SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team earned a crucial Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader split against Gannon University Saturday on a cold and windy day at the SRU Softball Complex in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock overcame a six-run deficit in the opener to pull off a 14-13 win in eight innings, but Gannon forced the split with a 10-2 six-inning win in game two.
 
With two games remaining in the regular season, Slippery Rock's record stands at 23-18 overall and 10-8 in the PSAC West. Gannon's record sits at 25-12 overall and 15-5 in league matches. Slippery Rock will close its regular season Sunday with a home doubleheader against California.
 
The top three teams in the Central, East and West divisions at the end of the regular season qualify for the PSAC Tournament. Gannon and Seton Hill have already clinched the first and second seeds in the PSAC West while SRU and California are both in contention for the third and final spot.
 
California, which is 9-7 in the PSAC West, is presently in front of The Rock for third place, but SRU controls its own destiny. A sweep of the Vulcans on Sunday would give Slippery Rock 12 league wins and clinch a conference tournament berth regardless of the outcome of California's doubleheader against Edinboro on April 30.
 
If the Vulcans and Rock split Sunday's doubleheader California would need to win two games against Edinboro to take the third seed over SRU. Doubleheader splits by California against both Slippery Rock and Edinboro would give SRU the third seed over Cal. as The Rock and and Vulcans would finish with matching 11-9 league records in this scenario and Slippery Rock would own a tiebreaker over California via winning the season series against the Vulcans 3-1.
 
However, California would clinch a tournament berth over The Rock if it sweeps SRU on Sunday.
 
Kailey Myers and Becca Roesch led Slippery Rock on Saturday against Gannon.
 
As has been the case for basically the entire season, Myers was dominant at the plate Saturday, going 5-for-7 with three runs scored, one home run, four RBI, a double and a walk. Myers will enter the final doubleheader of the regular season Sunday batting .429 with 21 runs, seven home runs and 36 RBI.
 
Roesch combined to go 4-for-7 with a walk, one run and one RBI over the doubleheader. Roesch's lone RBI came on the game-winning hit in the opener.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 14 – Gannon 13 (Eight Innings)
A surge of power from an unlikely source propelled The Rock to a huge extra-inning comeback victory in the opener, 14-13.
 
Trailing 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Slippery Rock's first three batters all successfully got on to load the bases for Cortney Claypoole, who came into Saturday 0-for-8 at the plate in 2018. Without hesitation, Claypoole drove the first pitch she saw deep over the center field wall for a grand slam, cutting Gannon's lead to 9-7 and sparking a much-needed Rock rally.
 
Slippery Rock's big fourth inning continued as both Myers and Lauren Hawley posted RBI-singles to completely erase its six-run deficit before Gannon was able to get out of the inning.
 
SRU's momentum carried over to the fifth where The Rock produced four more runs to take a 13-9 lead on the Lady Knights. The highlights of the inning being a run-scoring double by Alexa Guglielmino and another RBI-single off of Myers' bat.
 
Not to be outdone, Gannon methodically chipped away at Slippery Rock's lead with two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull even with SRU and force extra innings.
 
Camie Shumaker, who entered the game in the fourth in relief of starting pitcher Brooke Dawson, threw a perfect eighth inning to bring SRU up to bat in the bottom of the frame with the chance to win.
 
Myers led off the inning with a single. Following the single, Julia Cepis came on for Myers as a pinch runner and advanced to second when Hawley forced a walk to give SRU runners on first and second with no outs. Roesch stepped to the plate and promptly delivered the game-winning hit with a line drive to center that allowed Cepis to easily score, giving The Rock a wild 14-13 win.
 
SRU registered a season-high 17 hits in the game one. Five different players recorded at least two hits. Myers led the way via a 4-for-5, two-run, two-RBI outing.
 
Roesch and Allie Fischer had three hits each with Fischer scoring twice and Roesch providing the game-winning hit. Hawley drove in three runs on a pair of hits and Guglielmino rounded out the top performers by going 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
 
Shumaker picked up the win in the circle to improve to 8-5 this season. She scattered four runs, three earned, on nine hits over five innings while striking out a season-high seven batters. Dawson went three innings, allowing nine runs on nine hits and four walks.
 
GAME TWO: Gannon 10 – Slippery Rock 2 (Six Innings)
Slippery Rock couldn't replicate its game-one magic at the plate in the night cap as Gannon exploded for eight runs over the first three innings en route to the mercy-rule victory.
 
Gannon led 2-0 after the first half inning, but SRU was able to answer back in the bottom of the first by way of a two-home run by Myers. However, the tie would be short lived as the Lady Knights countered by scoring four runs in the second, two in the third and two more in the sixth while The Rock was held scoreless over the remainder of the game to give Gannon a 10-2 win.
 
Emily Nagle, Megan Brown, McKenzie Garland, Myers and Roesch were responsible for The Rock's six hits in game two. Myers and Roesch also drew one walk each.
 
Paige Flore (6-2) took the loss for SRU after giving up eight runs, only four of which were earned, in 2.1 innings of work. Andria Copelli came on to throw the final 3.2 innings in relief of Flore. Gannon pitcher Kennedy DeMatteis got the complete-game victory after holding SRU to two runs over six innings.
 
Slippery Rock and California are scheduled for a 1 p.m. start Sunday at the SRU Softball Complex. Sunday will serve as Senior Day for The Rock as the six-woman senior class will be honored for their contributions to the program prior to game one.
 
 
 
 
To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).