SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – To wrap up a stretch of 10 home games in six days, Notre Dame College split Friday's doubleheader with Davis & Elkins College. The Falcons jumped out to a big lead in game one and finished it off with a 9-6 victory. With some dominant pitching in game two, Davis & Elkins won by a score of 5-0.
 
In both games on Friday, Notre Dame had runners on second and third base in the first inning. Although the Falcons did not score in the first, they would put five on the board in the bottom of the second inning. To start the second, junior Ella Collinsworth walked and stole second base. Senior Mia Cipriano knocked a run in with a ground-rule double into right center field.
 
Cipriano moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Katelyn DeWeese RBI single. DeWeese stole second and then junior Destany Blake drove her in. Blake hit a ball up the middle and the center fielder sent a throw home that was offline and allowed Blake to move all the way over the third after it got away from the catcher. She scored on another wild pitch.
 
Still in the second inning, with the bases empty, senior Meadow Odum walked and stole second to get into scoring position. Freshman Avery Robinson doubled to center field to give NDC a 5-0 lead.
 
Notre Dame pushed a sixth run across the plate in the third inning. Collinsworth led off with a single and then sophomore Danielle Fick, DeWeese and Blake all drew a walk.
 
Sophomore Grace Fisher was cruising in the pitcher's circle for NDC, as D&E had just one hit and two base runners through the first three innings. But, the Senators began their comeback after the third. They put up a run in the fourth and a run in the fifth.
 
NDC would get, what would turn out to be, a very important run in the bottom of the fourth. After Robinson reached on an error, freshman Jocelyn Quior pinch ran for her. She stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Collinsworth and scored on a passed ball.
 
The Falcons added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. DeWeese was walked to start the frame and Blake singled. They would both score, later in the inning, on a passed ball and an RBI single by junior Alyssa Wahl. The Falcons led, 9-2, and were one run away from ending the game with the run rule, but the Senators hung around.
 
Davis & Elkins scored four times in the top of the sixth to claw within three runs, 9-6. Robinson, who entered the circle in relief of Fisher in the sixth, got through the seventh inning to ensure the NDC victory.
 
Blake led the Falcons by going 3-for-3 at the plate, driving in two runs and scoring two runs. That was her third three-hit game of the season.
 
Through the first five innings of game two, the two teams were locked in a pitcher's duel. Sammie Jarvis had 11 strikeouts through four innings for D&E and NDC's Allison Weilnau did not allow a base runner through three innings.
 
The Senators scored first, with one run crossing the plate on a pair of singles in the fourth. Davis & Elkins then blew the game open with a four-run sixth inning.
 
Notre Dame will be back on the home field on April 2, for a doubleheader, beginning at 3 p.m. against Walsh University.