LEESBURG, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team picked up a pair of one-run wins Tuesday at The Spring Games in Florida with a 2-1 victory over Saint Michael's in the morning and a walk-off 4-3 win in eight innings over D'Youville in the afternoon.
 
Pitcher Kelsi Anderson (5-1) posted yet another strong appearance from the circle as she surrendered only one run on four hits while striking out nine batters in the 2-1 win over Saint Michael's to open the day. Anderson moved up to fourth in SRU program history in career strikeouts and now has 286 punchouts in her career.
 
The Rock then got an outstanding two-way effort from Alexsa Hurd in the second game of the day as Hurd pitched a complete-game win in the circle and had the walk-off RBI at the plate to give SRU a 4-3 win over D'Youville. She went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and struck out nine batters while scattering just five hits over eight innings in the circle.  
 
Cami Fisk went 2-for-4 against D'Youville and 1-for-3 with a run scored against Saint Michael's to round out a solid day at the plate.
 
The sweep gives SRU five wins so far on the Florida trip and improves The Rock to 6-8 overall on the season. Slippery Rock will be off Wednesday and return to action Thursday at The Spring Games with two games at the Sleepy Hollow Complex in Leesburg. SRU will face Post University at 11:15 a.m. and Salem University at 1:30 p.m.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 2 – SMC 1
The Rock scored first taking an early one-run lead over the Purple Knights through two innings before Saint Michael's scored a run of its own in the third frame to tie the game. However, Anderson and the SRU defense kept the SMC bats quiet through the remaining three innings while the offense plated one additional run in the fourth to secure the 2-1 win.
 
With Arielle Brown on first after being walked to lead off the first inning, she proceeded to steal second and third base before scoring for SRU by stealing home to give The Rock a 1-0 advantage. Her three stolen bases tied for fourth in single-game steals at SRU.
 
Saint Michael's then scored its first run in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single to pull the score even with Slippery Rock 1-1 entering the fourth frame.
 
Cami Fisk reached home in the fourth inning on a throwing error by the SMC third baseman to lift SRU over the Purple Knights by one run again.
 
The one-run lead proved enough for Slippery Rock to hold on as Anderson and the SRU defense went on to retire nine of the final 15 batters they faced en route to a 2-1 Rock victory.
 
Anderson took the win after another solid starting effort allowing just one run on four hits in addition to striking out nine batters and walking six over a complete-game effort.
 
Pacing Slippery Rock's offense over game one was Fisk and Julia Montie who each tallied one hit while Fisk and Brown registered SRU's two runs of the contest.
 
Jamie Hearn (1-3) was the pitcher of record for Saint Michael's after allowing two runs, only one of which was earned, on two hits while striking out four over seven innings pitched. Sadie Pratt led SMC from the batter's box as she went 1-for-3 with one RBI.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 4 – DYU 3
Slippery Rock tied the contest late in the sixth inning to force extra frames before Hurd drove in the game-winning walk-off RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning after shutting out the Saints in the top of the inning to secure a 4-3 SRU victory.
 
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, SRU plated its first runners in the second via a two-RBI single from Hurd, who brought home Brown and Regan Hozak.
 
The Saints answered by driving home three runners in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single of their own and one run off a wild pitch to take a 3-2 lead over SRU.
 
After being held scoreless over the third and fourth inning by D'Youville starting pitcher Sarah Parzych, Slippery Rock was finally able to score the game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth when singles by Hurd, Alyssa Sheely and Erin Gardner loaded the bases to give Fisk the opportunity to belt an RBI-single for The Rock.
 
Hurd then dashed any chance of a seventh inning comeback by the Saints as she and the SRU defense retired three of the four batters they faced. Relief pitcher Alexis DelFavero returned the favor by holding SRU with no runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
 
DYU led off the top of the eighth inning with a single to put runners at the corners with no outs thanks to the international tiebreaker rule that starts extra innings with a runner on second. From there, Hurd retired three batters in order and tallied her ninth strikeout of the game for the third out to get out of the inning with two runners stranded in scoring position.
 
SRU opened the bottom of the eighth with Naomi Childs on second base. She advanced to third on a bunting single from Erin Gardner, who then stole second to put runners on second and third with one out. Hurd then delivered the game-winning RBI with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Childs for the win.
 
Slippery Rock will return to action Thursday at The Spring Games with games against Post and Salem.
 



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