New/Sortable Box Score

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team fell 3-1 to the University of Illinois Springfield Tuesday afternoon in the Dot Richardson Spring Games.

The game, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday morning, was postponed to the afternoon. The Rock was also slated to face the New York Institute of Technology, but the game was cancelled due to rescheduling.

The Prairie Stars scored on a passed ball in the second inning to take the early 1-0 edge. Illinois Springfield manufactured another run in the fourth to push the lead to 2-0, before pushing across another run with two outs in the fifth to take a 3-0 advantage.

Freshman McKenzie Popatak blasted a solo shot to lead off the top of the sixth for The Rock, but SRU could not complete the comeback and fell 3-1.

Popatak led the Slippery Rock offense with a homerun in three at bats. Megan Maloney, Breanna Tongel, Ashley Samluk, Taylor Welch and Eliza Sykes each picked up a hit in the loss.

Freshman Carly DeRose allowed an unearned run without giving up a hit in 1.2 innings pitched. Senior Emily Lobdell picked up the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 4.1 innings.

With the loss, Slippery Rock drops to 4-7 on the season. The Prairie Stars improved to 8-9 this spring with the win.

The Rock concludes its trip to Florida Wednesday against Merrimack College at 9:00 a.m. and #18 Caldwell College at 1:00 p.m. Slippery Rock returns to open home and conference play Sunday against Gannon University Sunday, March 23.