NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – Receiving top-notch pitching from junior Anna Schillinger (Fort Wayne, Ind.) in both ends of a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Wednesday, April 20, Manchester University picked up a key pair of wins.

Schillinger, improving to 9-4, fired a brilliant two-hit shutout in the opener against visiting Defiance College (12-18 overall, 3-7 HCAC). She issued only two free passes and dealt a strikeout in route to a 4-0 decision for her first complete-game blanking in a Black and Gold uniform. With senior MacKenzie Williams (Kendallville, Ind.) getting nicked for four runs on nine hits over four innings, Coach Josh Dzurick turned to Schillinger again in the nightcap with similar results. She gave up just one hit and struck out one Yellow Jacket over three frames, while the offense rebounded for a 5-4 thriller.

Williams drilled an RBI single and another run scored behind two errors in the third inning of the opener, breaking up a scoreless tie, and senior right fielder Ashley Stahl (Wheatland, Ind.) sent a single to left in the fifth that got past DC's fielder and rolled to the fence for two more runs and a 4-0 edge. Defense was also at the forefront of the afternoon, including game one, as freshman shortstop Mandi Boggs (Frankfort, Ind.) caught three line drives, and Williams gunned down a visiting runner trying to score in the third after a home fielding error.

After trailing 4-0 through four frames of game two, MU (17-12 overall, 7-5 HCAC) rallied back with a run in the fifth behind back-to-back doubles from Williams and freshman third baseman Kate Skeens (Gas City, Ind.); three in the sixth due to two hits and a pair of visiting side errors that aided RBI singles from senior designated player Kaile Niezgodski (South Bend, Ind.) and junior left fielder Emilee Liston (Cicero, Ind.) and an RBI ground out from sophomore second baseman Laurren Ladwig (Crown Point, Ind.); and the winner in the seventh fueled by a pair of singles by sophomore right fielder Mallorie Jennings (Bourbon, Ind.) and Boggs to go along with an error, as Boggs crossed home plate for the win on an RBI fielder's choice by Niezgodski. Ladwig finished game one with three hits in three at-bats, while Jennings, Liston, Skeens, and Boggs tallied two hits apiece in game two. Jennings kept the defensive theme for the Spartans going in game two, too, adding an impressive play in the first inning, as she threw out a runner from right field with a perfect strike to Skeens at third after catching a fly ball to end an early DC threat.

Manchester University, standing third on the league standings, continue league play Saturday, April 23, with a trip to loop leader Transylvania University. First pitch is 1 p.m. at TU's John R. Hall Athletics Field.

NOTES: The two wins increased a skein of nine wins in the last 10 games of the series for the Spartans … Schillinger's 10 scoreless innings dropped four-tenths of a point off her season earned run average (3.53-3.13) … Ladwig's four-for-seven afternoon at the plate helped her batting average spike as high as 22 points (.333-.355) before settling at .351 … Niezgodski's two-RBI effort in the nightcap was her first such since April of 2015.