SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.- The Slippery Rock University softball team earned a crucial doubleheader sweep of Edinboro in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action Thursday afternoon at the SRU Softball Complex.
 
Slippery Rock earned a 20-10 mercy-rule win over the Fighting Scots in the opener before fighting back from a two-run deficit in game two to earn a 7-5 victory and sweep of the conference rivals.
 
With the wins, Slippery Rock improved to 16-15 overall and 5-5 in the PSAC West to keep its playoff hopes alive. Edinboro falls to 8-14 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
 
Heading into the weekend, Slippery Rock and Seton Hill are tied for third place in the PSAC West with matching conference records of 5-5. The top three teams in the PSAC West will qualify for the PSAC Tournament. There is still much to be decided as every team has at least eight league games left to play in the season.
 
Game One Slippery Rock 20, Edinboro 10 (5 Innings)
In the opener, Edinboro scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but Slippery Rock responded with an offensive surge that scored six runs in the bottom of the first. Lauren Hawley's grand slam, Ashley Samluk's RBI double and Megan Maloney's run-scoring sacrifice fly rounded out the top performers for the inning.
 
Edinboro scored one run in the second inning, but once again, Slippery Rock scored six more runs in the bottom of the inning. Allie Fischer and Samluk each had run-scoring sacrifice flies and Katie Kaiser had a two-run single to highlight the inning.
 
The third and fourth innings went back and forth as the teams both scored two runs in the third and one run apiece in the fourth. Stacey Herzog recorded her first home run of the season in the third inning with a two-run shot to center field and Kaiser homered to center in the fourth to lead The Rock.
 
Following a four-run top of the fifth inning by Edinboro, Slippery Rock ended the game by scoring five runs, all of which came with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Maloney got things going when she hit an RBI double to center field that scored Megan Brown. Later in the inning, Emily Nagle added an RBI single that put two runners on base for Samluk, who proceeded to hit her third home run of the year to give The Rock a 20-10 mercy-rule victory.
 
Kaiser, Nagle and Hawley each had three hits apiece in the win, while Samluk finished with a team-high five RBI.
 
Brooke Dawson (6-7) got the win after pitching 2.2 innings. Paige Flore came in for 2.1 innings of relief and struck out one.
 
Game Two Slippery Rock 7, Edinboro 5
In the nightcap, Edinboro scored one run in the top of the second inning and Slippery Rock tied it up in the bottom of the fourth with a run scored on an Edinboro error. The Fighting Scots then broke the tie in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs to take a 3-1 lead.
 
The Rock came out hot in the sixth inning and scored four runs before Edinboro could get its first out. Herzog recorded her third hit of the game on a two-run single to center field and Fischer and Maloney both had RBI singles to lead SRU in the sixth inning. The Rock surrendered two runs with two outs in the top of the seventh after a two-run double by Brooke Callaghan, but SRU starter Carly DeRose halted all hopes of an Edinboro comeback by forcing the next batter to fly out to right field.
 
In addition to Herzog's three hits and two RBI, Brown also recorded two hits to round out The Rock's top performers. 

DeRose improved to 7-4 on the year after pitching a complete game along with seven strikeouts.
 
The Rock continues PSAC West action Friday at Mercyhurst starting at 2:30 p.m.