GRANVILLE -- What a difference a day makes for the Heidelberg University softball team.  Saturday at Otterbein?  A total of five hits, six runs, and two losses. Sunday at Denison? A combined 31 hits, 26 runs, and -- most importantly -- two much-needed wins.  

Heidelberg won 14-9 and 12-6 and improved to 12-8 overall.  

GAME ONE: BERG 14-19-4    DENISON 9-11-1

After struggling offensively on Saturday, Heidelberg started Sunday with a big inning.  Kat Brady singled, then stole second. She scored on a single to left by Emma Dean.  Dean scooted around the bases on a passed ball and a wild pitch before scoring on a double to right by Aubrey Conklin.  A dropped fly ball allowed Conklin to score the third run of the inning.  

Down 3-0 before picking up the bats, the Big Red scored five unearned runs in the bottom of the first.  Denison added another unearned run in the second.  

Trailing 6-3 in the fourth, Heidelberg put up a bigger inning. Ryann Ramacciatti and Maddie Gossard single and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Halie Monhollen.  Brady drove in Ramacciatti with a base hit, and advanced to second on the throw.  Gabbie Stallbaum followed with a game-tying double to left.  Dean drove in the go-ahead run with a single to right.  

Undeterred, the Big Red tied the game in the bottom of the frame.  

Still tied in the sixth, the Student Princes put up an even bigger inning.  Stallbaum led off with another double and stayed there on an infield single by Meghan Bame. After Dean loaded the bases with a hit, Conklin mashed a double to straight-away center, scoring two.  Later, Ramacciatti pushed home two more with a single to right center.  Murissa Drown drove in the fifth run of the inning with a pinch-hit double to left center.  

After scoring three in the first, four in the fourth, and five in the sixth, the Student Princes only managed to score two in the seventh.  Again, a single and a steal by Brady got things moving.  She scored on a base hit by Bame.  Dean drove in Stallbaum with a single to left.  

Denison scored twice in the bottom of the seventh,but Riley Cruse (3-1) picked up the win. Cruse threw five innings of relief, allowing three runs on seven hits.   

GAME TWO:  HEIDELBERG 12-12-0   DENISON 6-9-1

Back-to-back doubles by Stallbaum and Bame gave Heidelberg an early lead in the nightcap.  

Up 1-0 in the second, The Berg unleashed their biggest inning in more than a decade.  Ramacciatti singled and moved to third on a double by Gossard.  A walk to Maddie Mosier loaded the bases for Brady, who promptly singled home two.  Stallbaum walked to reload the bases for Bame.  Bame continued her stellar season with a double to left center that drove in two.  After an RBI ground out by Dean, Conklin and Ramacciatti walked to once again load the bases.  

Gossard walloped her first collegiate home run -- a grand slam to right field.  Up 10-0, Heidelberg continued to battle at the plate.  Mosier and Monhollen singled before Brady -- suddenly an RBI machine! -- doubled to right center, scoring one.  The final run of the monster inning crossed the plate on a misplayed ball in the infield.  

In all, Heidelberg scored 11 times in the second -- their most since hanging 12 runs  on New England College in the sixth inning of a 20-2 win  in 2012.  

Denison scored once in the third, then hit two home runs in the fifth to stave off the mercy rule.  

Payton Scheid (4-2) earned the win with 4.2 innings of work, striking out three.  Jessica Voitko threw the final 2.1 innings and did not allow a hit.  

Perhaps the most important number on the box score for Head Coach Mari Briggs was the "0" in the errors column -- HU's first clean game defensively in their last five games.  

UP NEXT:

Heidelberg is scheduled to return to Central Ohio on Tuesday for a conference showdown with Capital University.  First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.