GLENVILLE, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock softball team ended its time at the Mountain East Conference / Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Crossover by splitting two games Sunday with a loss to West Virginia Wesleyan College in game one followed by its first win of the season over Glenville State University in game two.
 
SRU (1-3) suffered a 7-5 game one loss to WVWC (1-3) before picking up a 3-1 victory over GSU (2-2) in to end the day.
 
Junior Kelsi Anderson (1-0) turned an impressive performance early in the season as she allowed just two hits and one run while striking out 11 batters in a complete game effort against Glenville State.
 
Over two games, Cami Fisk and Alexsa Hurd recorded almost identical performances as they each went 2-for-7 with one home run. Fisk tallied four RBI and scored one run while Hurd tacked on three RBI and two runs to lead the offense.
 
GAME ONE: WVWC 7 – SRU 5
The Bobcats and Slippery Rock played to a 5-5 tie through the opening five innings, but a two-run West Virginia Wesleyan rally in the sixth proved too much for SRU to overcome in a 7-5. 
 
WVWC prompted an early lead thanks to a pair of run-scoring singles and an RBI fly out to take a 3-0 lead at the end of the second frame.
 
The Bobcats tallied two additional runs at the top of the fourth inning before Slippery Rock dashed the West Virginia Wesleyan hopes of a shutout by scoring two runs in the fourth via a Fisk home run to plate herself and Arielle Brown.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan went on to score two more runs over the next inning both the result of singles hit to center field and left field to extend their lead to 5-2 entering the bottom of the fourth.
 
Julia Montie reached first on a single and was advanced to second with a walk by Brown before Hurd darted her second home run of the weekend to score three runs and knot the score 5-5 to close the inning.
 
Neither team would plate a runner over the fifth frame, but in the top of the sixth Wesleyan's Megan Norris hammered a two-run home run to right field to give the Bobcats a two-run advantage once more.
 
The Rock came up short of a comeback effort as it registered only one hit over their final two innings en route to a 7-5 West Virginia Wesleyan win.
 
Chloe Sharman, in her first start of the season, allowed five runs on seven hits in addition to striking out one batter and walking five over four innings pitched.
 
Claire Zimmerman (0-2) was the pitcher of record for SRU after allowing two runs on one hit while also striking out two batters and walking two in three innings of work as a relief pitcher.
 
Hurd and Fisk led the offense after combining to hit two home runs supply all five of SRU's RBI.
 
Brown also aided in the offensive efforts as she went 1-for-3 with two runs scored. Erin Garndner rounded out The Rock's leaders as their only player to record multiple hits with two in three at bats.
 
Hannah Hudson (1-2) allowed no runs over three innings while striking out five batters. Norris paced the Bobcat offense with one hit, one home run and three RBI.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 3 – GSU 1
Slippery Rock scattered three runs over the first three innings to take a two-run lead over Glenville State that it would never relinquish as the Pioneers were shutout over the final four innings for a SRU 3-1 win.
 
The Rock opened the game with Hurd reaching second on a double to right center before being plated via groundout by Fisk before the end of the inning.
 
The Pioneers answered with a run of their own at the bottom of the second after a single down the left field line brought home a walked GSU runner to knot the score 1-1 entering the third frame.
 
With the bases loaded, Fisk drilled a single to left field on the first pitch of her at bat that scored Jeanna Sukey before Aubrey Mansfield plated Brown via an identical left field single to close the inning leading Glenville State 3-1.
 
Anderson held off the Pioneer offense for the remaining four frames by striking out five batters and standing four runners on base to secure The Rock's 3-1 win.
 
Anderson closed out her complete-game win by surrendering just two hits and navigating around five walks and three hit batters, all the while recording 11 strikeouts in what was her sixth career double-digit strikeout performance.
 
Slippery Rock's offense was led by Fisk who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and Mansfield who was 2-for-3 with one RBI as well as Brown and Hurd who each ended the contest with one hit and one run scored.
 
Slippery Rock returns to competition March 4 with an away doubleheader at Bowie State University. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.  
 
 






To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).