GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team dropped both games in its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader at Seton Hill University Saturday to conclude the 2022 season.
The Rock fell 4-0 in game one before suffering a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in game two.
GAME ONE: SHU 4 – SRU 0
Seton Hill pitcher Morgan Ryan held the Rock to just three hits while the Griffin's offense scattered runs in three different innings, taking a 4-0 victory in the opener.
SHU scored one run in the first and fourth innings before adding a pair of insurance runs in the fifth frame.
Slippery Rock's best chances to score a run came early as SRU put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, but
Erin Gardner was stranded on third in the first while
Cami Fisk, who led off the second inning with a double, was left on second following three straight strikeouts.
Gardner, Fisk and
Naomi Childs all registered one hit apiece in game one with Fisk's coming by way of her team-leading 13th extra-base hit of the season.
Kelsi Anderson (9-8) took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits in addition to striking out two batters and walking one over six innings pitched. Anderson ends her sophomore year with a program single-season record 146 strikeouts.
Ryan earned the win after a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out nine batters without walking any.
GAME TWO: SHU 1 – SRU 0
The Griffins survived an intense pitching duel between
Chloe Sharman (4-5) and Lauren Bertig (1-0) to earn a 1-0 walk-off game-two win.
Sharman took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before a Seton Hill single with one out in the frame broke up her flirtation with history. Despite the hit, Sharman still exited the frame unscathed when she stranded the runner at first following consecutive outs to end the inning.
Bertig took her no-hitter into the seventh when Slippery Rock broke through for its first hit of the game, a leadoff single by
Julia Nutter. However, Nutter was thrown out on the play trying to stretch her single into extra bases before Bertig retired the next two Rock batters to maintain the scoreless tie heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Sharman recorded two outs to open the final half inning, but back-to-back two-out singles brought Nina Grandey to the plate with a runner in scoring position. Grandey was able to shoot a game-winning single into the right-center gap to plate Brooklyn Fukushima from second and secure the 1-0 win.
Sharman was great for The Rock in the circle as she gave up just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out eight batters in the tough-luck loss. Sharman ends the season with back-to-back eight-strikeout performances.
Nutter went 1-for-1 in the contest while
Erin Gardner reached base once as well via a walk.
Bertig earned the win after a complete-game shutout effort in which she struck out seven batters with only one hit and a walk surrendered.
Slippery Rock finishes the year with a 15-22-1 overall record and a 4-12 mark in the conference while SHU improves to a 35-8 overall record and 12-4 record in the PSAC West.
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