SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team dropped both games in its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader against Pitt-Johnstown Wednesday at Kasnevich Field.
SRU was defeated 3-1 in game one before suffering a narrow 3-2 loss in its second contest of the day.
Following the sweep, The Rock's overall record moves to 25-21 while their conference mark becomes 16-12. Pitt-Johnstown improves to 13-27 on the year overall and 8-20 in PSAC West competition.
While Wednesday's losses were not ideal for SRU's PSAC Tournament aspirations, there are still four games scheduled to be played in the 2023 regular season which keeps Slippery Rock frimly in control of its own postseason destiny.
With four days remaining in the regular season, and a potential "rain day" on May 1, six teams still remain as contenders for the top five spots in the PSAC West standings. The top five teams in both the Western and Eastern Division at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the conference tournament.
Presently, Seton Hill leads the PSAC West with a league record of 19-7 followed in the top five by Mercyhurst (17-11), The Rock (16-12), California (Pa.) (17-13), Gannon (17-13) and Indiana (Pa.) (15-13).
Slippery Rock was led over the doubleheader by
Arielle Brown who was 3-for-7 with one RBI in addition to being SRU's lone player to register a hit in each game.
GAME ONE: UPJ 3 – SRU 1
Alexsa Hurd belted a solo home run to put SRU on the board to open the first inning, but UPJ scattered three runs in the third and fourth innings while Tori Radvan silenced The Rock's bats on the way to a 3-1 Mountain Cat victory.
Hurd looked to open an early game rally by hitting her 10th home run of the season in her first at-bat of the game to give Slippery Rock an early 1-0 lead over Pitt-Johnstown. However, that would be their only run of the day as The Rock left five runners on base over the next six innings.
Pitt-Johnstown tied the score in the top of the third, before taking a lead at 3-1 with a pair of runs in the fourth, while Radvan faced no more than four SRU batters per inning the remainder of the contest en route to a 3-1 UPJ win.
Kayla Miehl paced the Mountain Cat offense as she was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Radvan took the win for UPJ after allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Hurd led the Slippery Rock offense going 1-for-3 with a solo home run while Brown,
Cami Fisk and
Erin Gardner tallied one hit apiece.
Kelsi Anderson (13-8) was the pitcher of record after surrendering three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts before giving way to
Chloe Sharman who allowed just two hits over 3.1 innings in addition to striking out three.
GAME TWO: UPJ 3 – SRU 2
Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to an early two-run lead that a late Rock comeback bid would fall short of overcoming in an eventual 3-2 UPJ win.
With SRU trailing 2-0 entering the second inning, a pitching battle ensued between Hurd (9-4) and Mia Smith (9-10). Hurd struck out five over the next five innings while Smith struck out six in addition to the duo stranding three and four runners on base respectively.
At the top of the seventh inning, the Mountain Cats extended their lead by one run courtesy of an RBI-single to left field by Jenna Tallman.
The home half of the final frame saw SRU cut its deficit to two runs by way of
Mackenzie Freeman sacrifice fly to score
Julia Montie, who reached base on a double to centerfield to lead off the inning before advancing to third by way of an
Anna Villies single.
Brown continued the rally as she hit an identical double to centerfield to drive in Villies with two outs in the inning. However, Smith registered the final out of the inning one batter later to secure a 3-2 victory.
Slippery Rock was led over game two by Brown who was 2-for-4 with one RBI in addition to Villies and Montie who each tallied one hit and one run apiece.
Hurd was the pitcher of record after allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out seven in a complete-game effort.
Smith took the win after surrendering two runs on five hits with six strikeouts over seven innings of work. Radvan led the UPJ attack in game two as she was 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Slippery Rock continues its postseason push Thursday with a road doubleheader at Seton Hill. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m. at SHU Softball Complex. SRU earned a doubleheader sweep of the Griffins at home earlier in the season.
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