SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team dropped both games in its home-opening conference doubleheader against Clarion Wednesday at Kasnevich Field.
SRU was defeated 4-1 in game one before suffering a narrow 6-5 loss in its second contest of the day.
Following the sweep, The Rock's overall record moves to 11-11 while their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division mark becomes 2-2. Clarion improves to 11-7 overall and 2-2 in league competition.
Slippery Rock was led over the doubleheader by
Aubrey Mansfield who went 4-for-7 with one run scored.
Arielle Brown was 2-for-6 with a pair of runs and a walk while
Alexsa Hurd rounded out the leaders on the day as she went 2-for-7 with one run and one RBI.
GAME ONE: CLARION 4 – SRU 1
Brown scored The Rock's lone run in game one on a fourth-inning single by Hurd before the SRU offense was shut down by Golden Eagles pitcher Emma Hipps (6-1), who struck out six in a complete-game effort, as part of Clarions 4-1 win.
Rock starting pitcher
Kelsi Anderson (8-2) was the pitcher of record after allowing one run over four innings on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
Chloe Sharman came on for Anderson in the fifth inning and pitched three frames, scattering three runs on two hits.
Joining Hurd as players to register a hit in game one for Slippery Rock were Brown, Mansfield,
Cami Fisk,
Emma Kennedy and
Alyssa Sheely all with one apiece.
The Golden Eagles offense was paced by Alyssa Stitt who went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two walks as well as Carissa Giordano who tallied two runs and two walks as well.
Clarion opened its scoring immediately with and RBI-single in the first frame before Slippery Rock was able to finally plate its lone run of the game in the bottom of the fourth when Hurd roped a single down the left field line to drive in Brown, pulling The Rock even at 1-1.
However, the Golden Eagles registered one run in the fifth inning that would prove enough for Hipps as she went on to shut The Rock out over the final three frames while the Clarion offense tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh on the way to a 4-1 victory.
GAME TWO: CLARION 6 – SRU 5
Slippery Rock used a three-run fifth inning to cut a four-run deficit to only one, but came up short of a comeback win in a 6-5 game two decision to the Golden Eagles.
Clarion used a pair of RBI-singles in the first inning to plate three runners while The Rock offense utilized a first-frame Golden Eagle throwing error to score two runs to enter the second inning with SRU trailing 3-2.
The two squads played an empty second frame, but the Clarion bats wouldn't stay quiet for long as Stitt belted a solo home run in the third to extend the Golden Eagle lead to 4-2.
Megan Anderson picked up in the fifth inning where Stitt left off by hitting a two-RBI single through the right side that gave Clarion its largest lead of the contest of 6-2 entering the bottom of the fifth.
Slippery Rock answered in fine fashion in the bottom half of the inning with Fisk being walked followed by back-to-back singles from Mansfield and
Julia Montie that loaded the bases with just one out.
Mackenzie Freeman proceeded to step to the plate and drive a two-run double to left field with
Anna Villies then cutting the Clarion lead to only one run by way of an RBI-single before pitcher Megan Anderson (4-3) was able to work her way out of the jam to preserve the slim advantage.
Anderson and Hurd, who came on in relief in the sixth, entered a pitching duel for the final two innings of the contest with neither surrendering a run.
SRU's final chance of a comeback win came in the seventh inning when
Julia Nutter singled to the shortstop with one out on the board. However, Anderson closed out the win by forcing consecutive outs to seal a 6-5 Clarion win.
Claire Zimmerman (0-6) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits over two innings of work before giving way to
Mackenzie Borkovich, who surrendered two runs on five hits in three innings pitched.
Hurd posted a solid closing effort in the circle allowing no runs or hits over the final two innings.
SRU was led offensively over game two by Mansfield who went 3-for-4 with one run scored as well as Freeman who was 1-for-1 with two RBI.
Anderson took the win for Clarion after allowing five runs, only one of which was earned, on 11 hits in a complete-game effort. Stitt paced the Golden Eagle offense as she went 2-for-4 with two runs, one home run and one RBI.
Slippery Rock continues conference competition when it travels to California (Pa.) for a doubleheader 1 p.m. Sunday.
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