Category: Sports

The OWU women’s lacrosse team was defeated by Kenyon by the score of 10-6, last Wednesday.
Sophomore Cate Bailey started the Bishops off strong with a goal and an assist. However, Kenyon rebutted to take the win over OWU.

Junior Molly Curry scored only 11 seconds into the game. Following Curry’s example, Bailey saw junior Annie Swanson for a goal before converting a free-position shot for a 3-0 Ohio Wesleyan lead.

Bailey said she thought OWU came out on fire and with their few quick goals.

“We scored the first goal of the game with 11 seconds into the first half and that got us pretty excited,” she said.

Kenyon put points on the board with a pair of goals 37 seconds apart, then scored at the 20:08 mark to even the game at 3-3. A few minutes after the Kenyon Ladies scored, they tacked on three more goals making the score 6-3 by half time.

Kenyon remained strong into the second half, scoring three more goals, bringing the score to 9-3 halfway through the third period.

Bailey said when Kenyon came back in the end of the first half and beginning of the second half, she thought the team began to get a little discouraged.

Curry put the Bishops back into the game and onto the scoreboard 16 seconds after Kenyon’s last goal.
Freshman Eilee Foley and junior Meredith Wholley both scored goals within the last few minutes in the game, bringing the Bishops as close as they would come to coming back against Kenyon.

“We all work really well together as a team on and off the field,” said Bailey. “We play best when we all work together and help feed the ball on offense or make a pass to someone instead of running the ball down the field on our own.”

Curry said she thought the defense played very well throughout the game.

“We came together and caused some great turnovers,” she said. “Unfortunately, we had difficulty settling the ball on attack and did not play as composed as we normally do.”

Senior and goalkeeper Lauren Figy ended with 8 saves for the Bishops.

Curry said she is looking forward to playing Kenyon again in the post-season if the team makes it to the conference tournament.

“We won against Oberlin on Sunday so hopefully we will be able to keep this momentum on Friday when we play Denison,” she said.

Bailey said the last two games of the season are at home. She said Senior Night falling on Friday’s game against Denison should encourage a good turnout.

She said they play Mount St. Vincent on Sunday and hope to end their season with a win.

Bailey said in order to win the next few games they need to make sure they stay focused throughout the entire game and avoid getting discouraged if they get down by a few goals like they have done in the past.

The Bishops will face Denison at Selby Stadium Friday night at 7 p.m.

Ohio Wesleyan University joined more than 172,000 Division III athletes across the nation in a week-long celebration in which the NCAA recognized Division III athletes and their contributions on their respective campuses during the week of April 9-15.

The NCAA wanted to build greater awareness, appreciation and understanding of the multitude of positive contributions these athletes makes on their various campuses through the week of recognition.

At OWU alone, approximately 25 percent of all students participate in at least one varsity sport.

OWU recognized these athletes through various themed events last week, which included celebrating their involvement in community service, Faculty/Student-Athlete partnerships and their mentorship and leadership on campus.

On Sunday the week concluded with the Bishop Games, which is an event for special needs athletes who live in and around Delaware.

The Bishop Games, which was designed by the Ohio Wesleyan University Athletic Council (OWAC) is held annually and provides those with special needs the opportunity to compete as a college athlete would.

Junior Scott Rosenthal helped with the Bishop Games and was impressed by the high energy level and athletic ability of the competitors.

“One athlete jumped 15 feet in the long jump which was really impressive,” Rosenthal said.

Senior Sharif Kronemer was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

In the past 12 years, only 10 OWU athletes have received one of these scholarships.

Kronemer said he was honored to win such a prestigious award.

“I understand there are many qualified candidates and I am grateful the committee chose me as one of the 29 male recipients,” Kronemor said.

“I plan on attending graduate school next year at the University College London and this scholarship will be a huge help in paying for the academic expenses in one of the most expensive cities in the world.”

OWU athletics has won a total of 132 NCAC titles in athletics, the most conference championships in the league.

Nationally, the Battling Bishops have won five national team championships, as well as 13 individual national championships.

Kronemor said the week in general was extremely meaningful and rewarding to all athletes at OWU.

“The fact that the NCAA is recognizing Division III athletes shows that Division III is asserting itself as a competitive division,” Kronemor said.

“As a Division III track and field athlete, I know the competition is fierce on the track and in the classroom,”

“Also, I believe this recognition vindicates OWU’s dedication to Division III and the student-athlete,” he said.

School records were set and a win was gained for the Bishops at the Marv Frye Women’s Invitational meet Saturday at Selby Stadium and the George Gauthier Track.

The Invitational meet honors Marv Frye, the loyal and active member of the Ohio track and field community, who coached the OWU men’s track and field team from 1961-1997, as well as women’s track and field and cross country during his years at OWU.

The Bishops finished the meet with 154 5/6 points. Sophomore Cara DeAngelis won and set the school record for the 1500-meter run in 4:34:24, breaking the OWU mark she set last year of 4:37:12. Sophomore Sarah Betchel won the pole vault, beating last year’s school record of 11-7¾ and setting a new record of 12-1½.

In addition, freshman Mariah Powell said the Bishops beat a lot of their own individual records.

“As a whole, we had a really good meet,” she said. “On the girls’ side alone we had about 40 seasonal bests in one meet.”

Sophomore Antoinette Joliff said she was amazed, but not surprised, when over half the team raised their hands after the coach asked how many team members achieved personal records.

“I had personal records in both pole vault with a height of 10’8” and in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:06:44, the 4×400 relay had a awesome time of 4:02 as well. Everyone works their tails off to be better and it is showing,” she said.

Case Reserve finished in second with 123 5/6 points, Baldwin-Wallace in third with 119 points, followed by Heidelberg with 75 points, Muskingum with 53 1/3, Capital with 53, Albion with 45, Kenyon with 42, Denison with 30, Bluffton with 19 and Ohio Northern with 3.

Other event winners for the Bishops included Jolliff, winning the 400-meter hurdles and tying in second in the pole vault, and freshman Alex Tavenier, who won the 3000-meter steeplechase in 12:24:99.

Junior Hannah Benzing said the season is just beginning, despite the fact that the conference meet is only a month away.

“Everyone is working hard and pushing through all the way to the end,” she said. “The results we’ve been seeing every week only proves how dedicated we are as a team and how hard we work to be the best athletes we can be.”

Jolliff also said she has high hopes for the rest of the season.

“I am looking forward to the rest of the season, as the competition gets more difficult and know the hard work that the entire team is doing will pay off in the end,” she said. “I couldn’t have picked a better group of friends and coaches to share a victory with.”

The Bishops’ men’s baseball team remained strong on March 29, in their game against Marietta, which is ranked as the number two team in the nation.
The non-conference game was played at Littick Field, with a resulting score of 2-0, Marietta. Evan Brockmeier scored a run in the second inning, giving Marietta a 1-0 lead, and Bryan Gregorich scored once more for Marietta in the sixth.
Although the Bishops lost, senior James DiBiasio said he is proud of the way the team played against the tough opposing team.
“Our team usually plays up to our competition,” said DiBiasio. “We had a good game defensively, and both of our pitchers did a great job.”
DiBiasio also commented on the talent of Austin Blaski, the pitcher playing for Marietta.
“The pitcher was actually being scouted … there were four major league scouts at the game,” he said.
Blaski played the first seven innings, and the eighth and ninth were pitched by Kyle Lindquist. Junior pitcher Brandon Sega played the first five innings, striking out five and walking three.
“During the game, I was just concentrated on controlling what I could control. I knew they were a good team, but I treated them like I do every team,” said Sega.
Both Sega and DiBiasio said their team could improve its use of offensive strategies, as well as the psychological aspects of the game.
“What the team could work on is more consistent hitting, but that will come with time as guys get more swings,” Sega said. “Also, eliminating mental mistakes from our game will greatly improve our performance.”
“Offensively, we need to get in our rhythm, and start getting more hits,” DiBiasio said.
Sega said he hopes to improve on these strengths and weaknesses throughout the season.

Ohio Wesleyan’s softball team lost to Muskingum last Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader. The first game left the Bishops behind by one run, while the second game had Muskingum 10 runs ahead of OWU’s six.
In the top of the seventh inning, Muskingum scored twice and withheld the Bishops rally in the bottom of the inning to win the opening game.
In the first game, sophomore Danielle Haley got locked up in a pitchers’ duel with Muskingum pitcher Ashley Price.
Haley trapped a runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings, working out of a bases-loaded situation in the fourth, and got an inning-ending play from junior Lauren Elkins. He got Price out at home plate when he attempted to score from second.
Elkins said the team played really well against Muskingum, but their hits wouldn’t fall at the right times with runners on base.
“Muskingum is always a pretty solid team, because they are such strong hitters. But we just couldn’t follow through with timely hits,” said Elkins.
The Muskies took the lead in the seventh inning when Samantha Aguilar hit a double to right center and scored when Aly Mazzei trailed with a double. Muskie pinch-hitter, Jessica Saporito, then hit a single which brought home Mazzei, giving Muskingum another run on the board. Bishops’ junior Stefanie Rieder hit a single, and one out later, took second on an infield out by Elkins. OWU junior Brooke Nethers hit a single, which took Rieder to third base.
“We played a great game against Muskingum,” said Haley. “It was 0-0 until the seventh, and their hits fell when they needed them to.”
Sophomore Erica Bryan bunted, letting Rieder score and make the tally 2-1 as Nethers hurried all the way to third base. At the end of the first game, Price got senior Jackie Kolovich on a game-ending out.
In the second game, Kolovich started the Bishops out strong with a double, bringing two teammates home, to make the score 2-0. After Kolovich had OWU on top, Muskingum came back with nine consecutive runs. They withstood a pair of Bishop rallies and swept the game.
OWU took the lead with a walk from Nethers who then went on to steal second base in the first inning. Following Nethers, Bryan hit a single for the team.
Freshman Chelsea Denman bunted but was unsuccessful when Muskingum third basemen Kellie Coy caught the ball and then swung it over to get Bryan out, bringing the Bishops two outs.
Kolovich sent a double to an opening in the left center, which gave the Bishops a 2-0 lead.
Muskingum got back on the board in the top of the second inning. They scored on an RBI triple by Kayley Brevard and a two-run homer by Patterson. The Muskies then added a run in the third on Coy’s RBI double.
Haley said she gave her team 110 percent that game, as she does every game, and that is what matters.
“The game really could’ve gone either way. It just happened to fall their way this time,” she said.
The Muskies had five runs in the fifth, with Brevard and Jendy Weppler hitting in runs and Weppler stealing home.
“As a team we played really well, we just had a couple moments where we did not capitalize on some opportunities,” said Nethers. “When you play good teams like that you have to use every opportunity they give you or you create.”
In the bottom of the inning, OWU came back, scoring on Denman’s RBI ground out and a fly from Haley. They added two more runs in the sixth on RBI singles hit by Nethers and Denman. Nethers left second base too early to end the inning, and Muskingum’s Rachel Bannister retired the side of order in the seventh to lock up the win.
Nethers was 2 for 2 with two runs scored, while Bryan went 3 for 4.
Nethers said the team will play DePauw on Wednesday, and that will be a very big game for their season. She said it would be a great way to see where OWU stands in the region.
Elkins said their whole schedule is pretty tough for the season, so it would be hard to name their most difficult matchup.
“Conference is always a really tight race and our non-conference schedule is pretty tough as well,” she said. “Most of the non-conference teams we play are ranked in the region and some even nationally, so it’s hard to pick the toughest game.”
Elkins said that it’s good that they have such a hard schedule, because it is going to prepare and force OWU to play consistently.
OWU faces Denison on April 14 at 1 p.m. and Hiram on April 17 at 3:30 p.m.

Softball split their doubleheader, non-conference games against John Carroll on Thursday, March 22 at Margaret Sagan Field.
In the opening game, the Bishops lost, 2-0.
John Carroll’s pitcher–Brittany Danilov–and OWU right-hander, sophomore Dani Haley, went head to head in a pitching battle.
John Carroll quickly took the lead in the top of the second inning when the Blue Streaks players, Olivia Matthew and Heather Hurley, scored.
The Bishops were unable to make a comeback in the first game, so they found themselves trying to comeback strong in the second.
Sophomore Tamra Londot said the team is used to playing doubleheader games, and that they do not affect the team’s players.
“We knew after the first loss, it wasn’t a true win on their part, because they got one lucky hit and scored runs on it,” Landot said. “We knew we were the better team and that we had played our game.”
Coming out with a strong start in the second game, Blue Streaks pitcher Trisha Pike held the Bishops hitless through the first four innings.
Fueled by their first loss, the Bishops fought back in the fifth inning.
Leading the comeback was junior third baseman Stefanie Rieder. She was followed by scores from freshman outfielder Chelsea Denman and junior outfielder Lauren Elkins. Their plays tied the game, 3-3.
Senior first baseman Jackie Kolovich lined a double down the left field line to score both runners on the field. Senior second baseman Abby Walsh added an RBI (run batted in) double later in the inning, giving the Bishops a 6-3 lead.
The Blue Streaks pulled up to 6-5 with Angelia Locey’s two-run single in the sixth. OWU right-hander Amanda Barker pitched the first 5.2 innings, striking out four and walking one to collect the win. Londot got the last 4 outs for her first save of the season.
Londot said she is only concerned about making it to regionals.
The Bishops are 6-6 in non-conference play. They play Alma College on April 9 at Margaret Sagan Field.