Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
ERIE, Pa. – Junior catcher
Katie Saluga drove in four runs in the final three innings of game two to secure a 4-3 win and, a doubleheader split, for the Slippery Rock University softball team at Gannon University Thursday. The Rock lost game one 4-2.
Slippery Rock has now won three of its last four games to improve its record to 16-17 overall and 3-11 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division. Gannon, which is ranked second in the PSAC-West and seventh in the Atlantic Region, record now stands at 28-15 overall and 8-6 in the PSAC-West.
Saluga finished game two 3-for-4 with four RBI and two doubles. No other Rock player had more than one it in the game. Saluga's three-hit game was her 10th multi-hit contest of the season, tying junior third baseman
Jenna Geibel for the team-lead.
Slippery Rock's offense was shut down by Gannon pitcher Erica Bartholow (12-4) early on. With a 3-0 lead after three innings, Bartholow, who did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, seemed poised to cruise to an easy win.
However, The Rock's offense came alive in the fifth inning. The rally started with singles from sophomore first baseman
Breanna Tongel and sophomore outfielder
Emily Lobdell. With two outs in the inning, Saluga belted a double to center field that scored Tongel and Lobdell to cut Gannon's lead to 3-2.
After being held hitless in the sixth inning, SRU was down to its final three outs when freshman outfielder
Alaynna Beers led off the inning with a walk. With one out in the frame, freshman pitcher
Ashley Knight helped her own cause with a single to put runners on first and second.
Lobdell would advance the runners to second and third with a groundout, allowing Saluga once again to step up to the plate with two outs and once again come through in the clutch with a two-run double to put The Rock up 4-3.
Knight (5-8) promptly retired the side in the bottom of the seventh inning, ending the game by striking out Kirstie Cortazzo to cement the 4-3 win. The win was Slippery Rock's first of the year when entering the seventh trailing.
Knight, who has won her last two starts, settled down after giving up three runs in the first three innings to pick up her fifth win of the season. She struck out five batters and scattered six hits in the win, allowing just two hits after the first three innings to keep The Rock in the game until the offense was able to register its runs.
Game one did not go as well for The Rock. The Golden Knights got off to a 3-0 lead that Slippery Rock could not recover from en route to the 4-2 loss.
Senior short stop
Kirsten Brant drove in two runs off of a double to center field in the sixth inning to make it a 3-2 ballgame, but SRU could not complete the comeback bid as Gannon added its fourth run in the bottom of the inning before Gannon pitcher Megan Dragon (12-9) retired three straight Rock batters in the seventh inning.
Brant, Tongel, senior outfielder
Natalie Atkinson and senior pitcher
Shaylee Ianno accounted for Slippery Rock's four hits in game one.
Ianno (9-8) was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs and giving up nine hits in six innings of work. She did strikeout four Gannon batters in the game.
Slippery Rock will close out its 2012 season at home 1 p.m. Saturday vs. No. 23 California (Pa.). A pair of wins over the Vulcans would give Slippery Rock its sixth winning season in the last eight years.
