CLERMONT, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team split a pair of games Friday morning, losing to the University of Sioux Falls and defeating Bemidji State at Legends Way Park in Clermont, Florida.
SRU began the day by losing to Sioux Falls, 8-1, before rebounding to down Bemidji, 3-2. Slippery Rock exits the spring trip with an overall record of 13-8.
The Rock was led offensively on the day by the duo of
Emily Nagle and
Lauren Hawley. Nagle combined to go 4-for-8 with one run and one RBI over the two games. Hawley went 4-for-8 as well with one RBI.
GAME ONE: Sioux Falls 8 - Slippery Rock 1
Slippery Rock gave up six runs in the first inning and could never recover in its seven-run loss to start the day.
Sioux Falls sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, producing five hits and one walk on the way to its huge inning. Slippery Rock began its climb back into the game in the bottom of the inning when Nagle connected on a leadoff single before eventually scoring on a hard-hit single by Hawley to make it a 6-1 contest.
However, Sioux Falls tacked on two more runs in the third inning on a Lindsay Mossman RBI-double to make it 8-1 while Cougar pitchers Bre Black and Courtney Matthews held SRU scoreless over the final six innings to hold on for the victory.
Nagle went 2-for-4 with one run scored atop SRU's batting order while Hawley was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Megan Brown,
McKenzie Garland and
Caitlyn MacKelvey all had hits as well while
Kailey Myers walked twice against the Cougars.
Brooke Dawson (4-6) took the loss in the circle after giving up six runs on five hits and a walk in one inning of work.
Andria Copelli was solid in relief of Dawson, allowing just two runs on three hits and four walks over six innings. Copelli threw four straight shutout innings to end the game.
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 3 – Bemidji State 2
Bemidji State led 2-0 early on, but The Rock responded with runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to pull off an impressive comeback victory.
Camie Shumaker turned in another impressive performance in the circle for The Rock in a complete game effort in which she scattered seven hits and two unearned runs while not walking a batter and tossing a pair of strikeouts. Shumaker, who is now 5-0 on the season with 0.80, has not allowed an earned run in her last 22.1 innings pitched.
Hawley was 3-for-4 against Bemidji. Nagle extended her hitting streak to 10 games by going 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Alexa Guglielmino was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored. Brown, Myers,
Becca Roesch, and
Allie Fischer all had hits as well with Myers also recording an RBI.
Slippery Rock threatened in the first inning with singles by Hawley and Gugleilmino, but was unable to push the game's first run across home plate. Bemidji State proceeded to plate a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Slippery Rock cut the Beavers' lead to 2-1 with a run in the fourth inning. With Myers on second base and just one out,
Allie Fischer hit a single to move her to third base. Myers then scored when Bemidji's third baseman failed to corral a routine pop up for The Rock's first run.
An inning later Myers once again played a pivotal role in a Rock scoring sequence when she pushed a single to right field with two on and two outs to drive in Brown, who singled earlier in the inning before advancing to second on a Roesch single and to third on a Hawley fly out, to tie the game at 2-2.
The Rock's string of runs continued in the sixth inning when Gugleilmino struck a leadoff triple to begin the frame and later scored the go-ahead run on an infield single by Nagle.
The Beavers put two runners on base in the bottom of the six, but as she has done virtually all season, Shumaker easily navigated around the situation to get out of the jam unscathed. She then retired the side in order in the seventh to close out The Rock's comeback victory.
Slippery Rock returns to competition March 24 for a doubleheader at Lock Haven. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
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