SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Kelsi Anderson allowed just one hit while tying a career-high in strikeouts with eight in game one, leading the Slippery Rock University softball team to an 8-0 victory and a split of its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader Friday against Clarion at the SRU Softball Complex.
 
The Golden Eagles (8-16, 6-14 PSAC West) bounced back with an 8-4 win in the nightcap over The Rock (8-20, 6-18 PSAC West).
 
Leah Vith led the Slippery Rock offense over the two games, going 4-for-8 with a home run, three runs scored and four RBI. The trio of Cami Fisk, Alexa Guglielmino and Anna Villes tallied three hits apiece on the day to round out SRU's top performers.
 
Game One: Slippery Rock 8, Clarion 0 (Six Innings)
Slippery Rock parlayed eight-runs on 10 hits with a complete-game, one hit shutout by Anderson (3-7, 2.14 ERA) to secure an 8-0 game one victory.
 
The shutout by Anderson was the first of her career, while her eight strikeouts tied a career-best mark for the freshman. Additionally, the one hit allowed was the lowest hit total allowed by a Rock starting pitcher this season.
 
Vith led The Rock lineup going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and three RBI. Guglielmino and Villies recorded two hits apiece in addition to combining to score three times and drive in three runs.
 
Fisk, Erin Gardner and Courtney Hoffman all had hits as well in the opener while Maggie Moore reached base three times via walks to round out SRU's top offensive performers.
 
Brooke Cline recorded the lone hit for Clarion while Kendyl Switzer (1-3, 6.18 ERA) took the loss after allowing six runs, five being earned, on four hits and five walks in four innings of work.
 
After both teams went quietly through the first two frames, the Slippery Rock offense exploded for eight runs over the final three innings, highlighted by a pair of run-scoring hits by Vith and an RBI-single by Guglielmino. The eight runs scored by SRU tied its second-highest run total of the season.
 
Game Two: Clarion 8, Slippery Rock 4
Trailing by seven runs entering the bottom of the sixth, Slippery Rock scored three runs on a pair of run-scoring hits by Gardner and Moore to cut its deficit to four runs, but ultimately had its comeback effort fall short in an 8-4 game-two win for Clarion.
 
Slippery Rock was led on offense by Gardner who recorded a two-RBI double while Moore added a pinch-hit, RBI-single and Vith tallied the fourth home run of her career.
 
Chloe Sharman (2-5, 3.22 ERA) took the loss after allowing six runs, five being earned, on seven hits while tying a career-best strikeout total with six. Claire Zimmerman (3-8, 4.74 ERA), who relieved Sharman to begin the top of the fifth, yielded two runs, one being earned, on three hits before Sharman re-entered the contest and pitched the final 2.1 innings.
 
Laura Sadowski (2-2, 6.37 ERA) evaded trouble throughout the contest, stranding a total of nine runners on base over a complete-game, four-run allowed effort. Hannah Norton led the Golden Eagle lineup in the night cap, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI.
 
Clarion opened the scoring in the top of the fourth with four runs, highlighted by the Norton two-run home run and an RBI-double by Alexandra Brentzel. CU extended its advantage to seven runs on a Norton run-scoring double in addition to a pair of RBI-singles by Sadowski and Alyssa Stitt over the fifth and sixth innings.
 
Slippery Rock struck back with three runs of its own the home half of the sixth on a Gardner two-run double down the left field line, followed by a Moore run-scoring infield single.
 
The Golden Eagles added an insurance run in the seventh when Brentzel recorded her second RBI-double of the contest, stretching the Clarion advantage to 8-3.
 
Vith opened the bottom of the seventh with a long home run over the center field wall to reduce The Rock's deficit to four runs followed by a Mackenzie Freeman one-out single, but Sadaowski worked out of the jam by retiring the next two batters in order to secure the win for Clarion and a split of the twin bill.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock travels to Clarion Saturday for a non-conference doubleheader to complete the four-game series. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 2 p.m.


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