At the conclusion of her junior year, College senior and softball player Emma Downing was unsure if she should apply to the Honors Program in History. She didn’t think she would get in — only seven students were accepted this year — and even if she did, she didn’t know if her schedule would allow for it. Nevertheless, she decided to take the plunge. “There weren’t any other classes I wanted to take, and I wanted to push myself academically and see what I could accomplish,” Downing said. “I knew that coming up with a question and researching it all year to write a 60-page paper would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done academically.” The History and Russian & East European Studies double-major ...

The softball team concluded their season Tuesday evening with a split against North Coast Athletic Conference rival, the Hiram College Terriers. Although the Yeowomen failed to make the NCAC Tournament, they saw improvements across the board in offensive and defensive categories — and most importantly in wins. The team took the first game against the Terriers 11–7 in an 11-inning thriller before dropping the season finale 5–3. Seniors Tori Poplaski, Grace Evans and Sami Mericle concluded...

Thriving in the sunshine state, softball set a program record for spring break wins, going 6–6 in a week of non-conference games. The Yeowomen then returned from Florida for their home opener, splitting a doubleheader with the Wilmington College Fighting Quakers. Oberlin won game one 6–2 before dropping the nightcap 6–5. After winning just eight games over the past two seasons, the Yeowomen have already racked up 7 wins and are 7–11 overall. Junior pitcher Sandra Kibble credits the team’s...

After a busy break competing under a sweltering Florida sun, the softball team re­turned to campus Sunday and began prepa­rations for Saturday’s first North Coast Ath­letic Conference game. The Florida tournament got off to a rocky start as the Yeowomen fought through con­secutive losses, including a few dramatic nail-biters. On March 20, Oberlin suffered a close 7–6 loss to St. Lawrence University in its first match of the tournament. The team came up short again later in the day, finish­ing 9–1 against the University of Southern Maine. First-year Emma Downing threw six straight innings, keeping St. Lawrence with­in a one-run margin after the team closed the Yeowomen’s strong three-run lead in the...