The Blue Streak softball team was able to compile 20 hits on the afternoon, which was enough to split the road doubleheader against conference-rival Mount Union, advancing to a 12-13 overall record and 7-7 mark in the OAC.

With the split, John Carroll currently sits tied for fifth place in the OAC with four conference games remaining.

Game 1: John Carroll 13, Mount Union 10
The JCU offense did not hesitate early on in game one. Senior Hannah Mizener started the scoring by singling through the left side in the first inning to score junior Lindsay McKnight,  giving the Blue Streaks the 1-0 advantage.

The scoring carousel really started in the second, as the Blue Streaks were able to piece together five runs on just two hits to take the early advantage. Junior Quinn Sobieszanaski and sophomore Miranda Noday showed with the bats in their hands, scoring senior Maggie Gannon and senior Jennie Broski on a sacrifice fly and a well placed groundout to score the first two runs of the inning, respectively.

Junior Olivia Schweiger would use speed on the base-paths to complete an RBI triple, giving the Blue and Gold their third run of the inning. Following the Schweiger triple and walk by McKnight, JCU was able to use a throwing error by the purple raiders to score Schweiger and move McKnight to third. John Carroll would get their final run of the inning after a Mizener walk, where McKnight and Mizener would successfully complete a double steal to score McKnight.

The Purple Raiders would not go away that easy, adding six runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to knot score at 6-6 just two frames into the game. After a quiet third inning for both teams, the bats would heat up once again for the Blue and Gold. Noday led off the inning with a single through the left side. Schweiger would follow with her with her second triple of the afternoon, thus scoring Noday. McKnight would then join the hit parade with a single up the middle to score scoring Schweiger.

Gannon was able put an exclamation point on the inning by to clearing the bases on a homerun to dead center field making the score 11-6 Blue Streaks. The Purple Raiders would once again refuse to go away in the bottom half of the fourth tacking on two runs of their own to trim the Blue Streak advantage to 11-8.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sobieszczanski reached base on a Purple Raider miscue. After two quick outs and a walk for McKnight, Mizener came through with a single through the left side to score Sobieszczanski pushing the margin out to 12-8 in favor of the Blue and Gold. Neither team would be able to plate a run in their next at bats. However, in the bottom of the sixth Mount Union would make things interesting following a one out double that scored two Purple Raiders in the sixth making the score 12-10.

JCU was able to score an insurance run in the top of the seventh, thanks to a two-out base hit by Mizener, which scored Noday, for her second run of the game making it 13-10 JCU. Sophomore Jenn Patterson closed out the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Blue Streaks the 13-10 Game 1 victory. In all, the Blue Streaks tallied 13 hits tying their season high for a single game. Mizener finished game one with three hits, while Broski, McKnight, Schweiger, and Noday all finished with multiple hits in Game 1.

Game 2: John Carroll 2, Mount Union 10
In game two, it was a different story for the Blue and Gold. After a scoreless first inning, Mount Union was able to score the first two runs of the game off of a solo homerun, followed by a bunt that pushed a run across to give the Purple Raiders the 2-0 advantage.

The Blue Streaks would answer in the top of the third when Mizener hit a two run triple that scored McKnight and Schweiger, knotting the game at 2-2. The Purple Raiders would answer the Blue Streak rally with four runs in the bottom of the third, scoring runs off of five hits and extending the lead to a four-run advantage. John Carroll would threaten with runners in the fourth and fifth but they were unable to get a run across the plate.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Mount Union was able to add four more runs to end the game in five innings due to the run rule. With the split, Mount Union moved to 11-19 overall and 4-10 in the OAC. John Carroll moves to 12-13 overall and 7-7 in the OAC. The Blue Streaks currently sit tied for fifth in the OAC, one game back of the coveted fourth spot trailing Marietta College. The Blue and Gold will face off with the Pioneers at home on Saturday, April 28th. But first, JCU will take on Otterbein this Saturday in an OAC doubleheader in Westerville, Ohio, with first pitch slated for 1:00 pm.