When Loyola's women's softball team went to Dayton this weekend to take on first place Wright State, they brought an extra piece of equipment: their brooms. The Ramblers swept Wright State in the weekend series 3-0, knocking the Raiders out of first place and establishing their presence back at the top of the conference.
Loyola took two games from Wright State on Saturday. In game one, sophomore Amy Solava set the tempo early not allowing a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs and not giving up a run until the sixth inning.
The Ramblers jumped out to the early lead, scoring a run in the first off senior Lindsay O'Gean's single and added another run in the sixth off sophomore Angie Funston's one-run single.
After Wright State forced the game into extra innings, senior Nora Schober put Loyola back with a one-run single, giving Loyola a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning.
The game carried on to the 11th inning after Wright State tied the game at 3-3.
After performing well all game in the circle, Solava stepped up to the plate in the top of the 11th and blasted a three-run home run, the first of her career, giving them the 6-3 victory.
Solava went all 11 innings, striking out eight on top of the game-winning home run.
"It was great to see Amy pitch well and then get that big hit," said head coach Yvette Healy. "She's a good hitter and has been getting some more at-bats which are adding to her confidence."
In game two of the double header, Loyola jumped out to a big lead and didn't let Wright State back into the game.
The game started with a bang on senior Kat Krause's lead-off home run in the top of the first inning. Solava added two more in the third inning on another home run giving her two in as many games.
Loyola put up three more runs in the fourth inning, jumping out to a 6-0 lead.
Krista Krosson kept Wright State intact, giving up just four runs, two un-earned on seven hits in seven innings.
"The pitching was great for us all weekend," Healy said. "Wright State is a great offensive team and averages six runs a game. Our pitchers did a great job of keeping them down."
On Sunday Loyola finished the three-game sweep of Wright State, winning 3-2.
After Wright State got out to an early 1-0 lead on Solava, Loyola came right back and tied the game off of junior Kacyee Tharp's two-out single in the second inning.
Wright State grabbed the lead back on a two-out double in the fifth inning. But in the sixth inning Solava helped her own cause once again, lacing a double with one out. Pinch runner senior Katie Duffy scored on a Wright State throwing error, tying the game at 2-2.
In the top of the seventh, Krause doubled in freshman Bridget Lally, putting the Ramblers up 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Solava was able to escape bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh with a little help from senior center fielder Nora Schober making a game saving catch to seal the 3-2 victory and the Loyola sweep.
The big weekend by Loyola moved them into third place in the Horizon League, one game behind Cleveland State.
Amy Solava was named Horizon League Pitcher of the week going 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA.
"The team is starting to mesh together and gain some momentum coming up on the end of the season," Healy said. "We have had some bad luck with weather to play a long string of games but this weekend gave us a good opportunity to get some wins and build off it for the end of the season."
Loyola will travel to DePaul and Notre Dame before taking on first place Cleveland State this weekend at Loyola Park.
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