WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team was swept in a pair of matchups Monday against Wayne State University and Pace University to conclude day two of The Spring Games.
 
The Rock (4-8) fell 3-1 in game one to Wayne State (5-3) and suffered a 5-4 loss to Pace (2-0) in game two.
 
Leading SRU's offense through two games was Mackenzie Freeman who ended the day with two hits, three runs, one home run, two RBI and reached base twice on walks. Freeman's home run was her team-leading fourth of the season. She has also now driven in a Rock-best 15 RBI.
 
Rounding out Monday's offensive leaders over the doubleheader was Erin Gardner who was 3-for-6 with one run scored and Arielle Brown who went 2-for-6 with one run.
 
GAME ONE: WSU 3 – SRU 1
Wayne State jumped out to a third inning 3-0 lead courtesy of a home run by Rainey Psenicka that The Rock could not recover from over the remaining four frames en route to a 3-1 Warriors victory.
 
Freeman looked to rally Slippery Rock back into the contest hitting a fourth inning solo homer to cut the deficit to 3-1, but the Wayne State defense retired nine of the next 11 SRU batters while Warriors' pitcher Paige Ameel (2-2) struck out the remaining two to seal the victory.
 
Pacing SRU's offense was Freeman who went 1-for-3 in addition to scoring The Rock's only run and RBI. Gardner supplied Slippery Rock with two hits while Brown was 1-for-3.
 
Reigning Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Pitcher of the Week Kelsi Anderson (3-3) took the loss after allowing nine hits and three runs in addition to striking out seven batters and walking just two in seven innings pitched. 
 
Psenicka led the Warriors with her home run while Leah Wrubel and Abby Favela each tallied two hits and one run apiece. Ameel was the pitcher of record for WSU after allowing only one run on four hits in addition to striking out seven batters in seven innings of work.
 
GAME TWO: PU 5 – SRU 4
Slippery Rock opened its second game of the day by holding a two-run lead through three innings before Pace rallied by plating three unanswered runs to seal the 5-4 win.
 
Freeman led the SRU offense in game two with one hit, two runs scored, one RBI and two walks. Cami Fisk had SRU's lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a double while Naomi Childs drove in two runs and Julianna Hutchinson supplied SRU with its remaining RBI.
 
Brown and Gardner each tallied a hit and run each with Anna Villies hitting her first double of the season.
 
Game two starter, Chloe Sharman allowed three runs on three hits while striking out two batters in four innings before giving way to Claire Zimmerman (1-1).
 
Zimmerman was the pitcher of record for The Rock, allowing two runs, one of which was earned, on two hits in 1.2 innings pitched. Alexsa Hurd came on for Zimmerman and recorded the final out in the sixth while allowing just one hit.
 
SRU's scoring efforts began in the first inning with Freeman hitting a one-run single up the middle to score Gardner. Childs then brought home Brown from third with a sacrifice bunt while Hutchinson's left field single scored Freeman to give SRU a 3-0 edge.
 
Pace answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first to cut the Slippery Rock lead to 3-2 before The Rock extended their lead to 4-2 courtesy of a run-scoring ground out by Childs in the third that plated Freeman, who led off the inning with a walk.  
 
However, Pace went on to score three unanswered runs through the remainder of the game with one in the fourth and two more in the sixth to take the 5-4 win.
 
The Rock's best look at an additional run in the sixth inning came when Villies belted a leadoff double and was then advanced to third via a sacrifice bunt by Ansley Simmen. The effort was ended though with Pace pitcher Mackenzie Garrick inducing consecutive ground outs to end the threat.
 
Garrick (1-0) took the win for the Setters after allowing four runs on seven hits in addition to striking out two batters and walking four in a complete-game effort.
 
Slippery Rock will break for a day before returning to competition with two games Wednesday against Dominican College at 9:15 a.m. and St. Thomas Aquinas College 11:30 a.m. in Winter Haven, Florida.



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