Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University softball team split a doubleheader Monday afternoon vs. visiting Gannon University to remain alive in the quest for a berth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs.

The Rock won Game 1 by a 10-2 margin in five innings, but then lost Game 2 by an 8-0 score in six innings.

Both games ended prematurely with the enforcement of the "mercy rule."

The split gave SRU a 15-17 overall record and a 5-7 mark in PSAC-West action.

Gannon held a 20-15 overall record and a 5-5 division mark following Monday's action.

Monday's results left Gannon in second place in the division standings, one game ahead of The Rock, which in turn is one game ahead of both Edinboro and Mercyhurst.

The top three teams in the division at the end of regular-seasonn competition will advance to the conference playoffs April 24-25.

In Monday's action, Gannon jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning of Game 1.

The Green and White quickly answered when Jessica Kortz smashed a home run over the right field fence. The long ball scored three runs and gave SRU a lead it would not relinquish.

Two innings later, Kortz smashed her second roundtripper of the game, a solo shot, to key a three-run Rock rally that pushed the hosts' lead to five runs, 7-2. The circuit clout was Kortz's fifth of the season.

Assisting Kortz on offense were Courtney Vincent and Jordan Zeunges, who each had two hits and scored two runs. 

Whitney Warmus contributed two hits, one run and two RBIs while Jessica Ellebruch tallied one hit and two RBIs. 

On the mound, Shauna Walker pitched all five innings. She allowed two runs on seven hits, struck out one and walked two. 

Gannon scored three times in the top of the first inning of Game 2 and never looked back.

The Rock had only one hit in Game 2, a one-out single by Natalie Atkinson in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Walker pitched her second complete game of the day for SRU and allowed eight runs on seven hits, while walking seven and not recording a strikeout.

The Rock returns to action at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, when it will host PSAC-West leader and 17th-ranked California (Pa.) in a doubleheader.

Those two games will be final home appearances for Rock seniors Lisa Getgen and Lauren Saulter, who will be honored prior to the game.

Tuesday's games will also  be the third and fourth games in a string of 10 contests SRU is scheduled to play in the span of six days.

The Green and White are scheduled to play twinbills at Edinboro, Wheeling Jesuit and Mercyhurst on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Rock is then scheduled to close out its regular-season schedule with an April 22 doubleheader at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio.