INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian University softball team got its fifth sweep of the season as the Knights beat Oakland City University, 11-2 and 10-1, on Monday at the Marian University Softball Field. The sweep improved the Knights record to 19-3 overall and 2-0 in Mid-Central College Conference play.

In the first contest, freshman Emily Gwaltney got the win for the Knights in the circle, which brought her record to 7-2 on the season. Gwaltney allowed five hits and struck out one on the day.

The Knights got the offense going in the bottom of the first, after giving up one run in the top of the first, when Gwaltney stepped up to the plate to help her own cause. Gwaltney delivered a shot down the right field line for an RBI-single. The run brought up senior Melissa Coutz who grounded out to second but brought in junior Chelsea Bell. The two-run inning would give the Knights the lead.

Oakland City kept the pressure on the Knights with a one-run fourth inning to even the score.

MU would answer, once again, in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Knights drove in two more runs to take the lead for the rest of the contest. Coutz led off the inning with a double to center field before junior Mallory Ortwein hit an RBI-sacrifice fly to right field to score Coutz. Sophomore Kelsey Uebelhor gave the Knights an insurance run when she hit an RBI-single to left field.

The Knights continued the offense in the bottom of the fifth when freshman Helen Rogers welcomed a new Oakland City pitcher with an RBI-single driven down the right field line. Immediately after, Gwaltney hit her second RBI-single of the day to bring in another. Senior Chelsea Young got her turn for an RBI-single and converted down the left field line. Ortwein then drove in the last two of the inning with a long double down the left field line.

Gwaltney would end the game for the Knights with her team-leading ninth homerun of the season, as she hit a two-run walk off bomb.

Gwaltney and junior Jessica Slayton led the way for the Knights with three hits, while Gwaltney drove in four and Ortwein three.

In the second contest of the day, the Knights were racing against time as a severe thunderstorm moved into the area.

Junior Kristi Roth improved her record to 3-0 on the season as she went the distance in the circle. She went five innings, struck out five, and allowed five hits.

The second game started much like the first as the Mighty Oaks took the lead in the first inning off an RBI-single. However, the Knights answered, once again, in the bottom of the inning to take the lead and never looked back.

Coutz got her second RBI of the day when she singled to bring in the first run for the Knights. The Knights got their second run of the inning when Rogers scored off an Oakland City error. MU led by a 2-1 margin going into the second inning.

Rogers then brought in her second and third runs in of the day when she doubled to right center to increase the lead.

MU kept the bats moving in the third inning when Uebelhor added her own RBI-double.

In what was the last inning of the game, the Knights added five runs to end the game. MU loaded the bases for Ortwein who hit her first grand slam of the season. The shot was her third for the Knights in 2010. Slayton gave the Knights their last run of the contest with an RBI-single to left.

Roth slammed the door on the Mighty Oaks in the fifth as the Knights were able to pick up the 10-1 victory.

Ortwein, Rogers, and Uebelhor led the way for the Knights with two hits each. Ortwein drove in five RBI in the contest, which ties a season high for the Knights in 2010.

The Knights are back in action on Tuesday when they host Urbana University at the Marian University Softball Field. First pitch of the twin bill is slated for 3 p.m.