Photo courtesy of Pearl Cipriano, Shippensburg Sports Info

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team fell 8-7 in eight innings as part of a back-and-forth second-round Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament playoff contest with Shippensburg University Thursday at Veterans Park.
 
The loss moves SRU's overall record to 29-23 on the year while also moving The Rock to the loser's bracket, where they will play an elimination game against Mercyhurst University today at 3 p.m. Shippensburg, which was ranked No. 4 in the Atlantic Region this week, improves to 30-18 overall with its third straight win in the PSAC Tournament.
 
Shippensburg plated three runs in the first inning highlighted by a two-run homer by Hannah Marstellar against starting pitcher Kelsi Anderson which led to an early pitching change for The Rock. Alexsa Hurd (12-5) took over in the circle to register the final out of the first frame.
 
Slippery Rock's scoring efforts began in the third when Hurd drove in one run on a double to left center on the first pitch of her at-bat. SRU then went on to take its first lead of the game courtesy of a three-run top of the fifth inning, headlined by a two-RBI single from Aubrey Mansfield, to put The Rock up 4-3.
 
A costly error in the bottom of the fifth inning would ultimately end up sealing the fate for Slippery Rock. The Raiders answered in the home half of the fifth frame by plating two unearned runs after an error on a routine fly ball. The unearned tallies but the Raiders back on top 5-4 heading to the sixth inning. Shippensburg would tack one more more run in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 6-4 with one frame to play.
 
The Rock posted a seventh inning rally that saw Mansfield hit an RBI-single and Mackenzie Freeman drive in a run on a sacrifice fly immediately after to tie the score 6-6 entering the bottom of the seventh.
 
Despite putting two runners on base, the Slippery Rock defense worked its way out of a potential game-winning situation for Shippensburg when Anna Villies chased a fly ball all the way to the fence and made a stellar catch to force the final out of the frame and send the game to extra innings.
 
Emma Kennedy then put a jolt into the stadium with a solo home run to right field that gave SRU a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth.
 
The Raiders loaded the bases with only one out in the bottom half of the inning before SRU made a pitching change, pulling Hurd after she threw 151 pitches. Anderson re-entered the game and was unable to record an out, ultimately walking home the game-winning run.  
 
Mansfield led the Slippery Rock offense as she was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Hurd and Kennedy each helped pace SRU going 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs apiece.
 
Hurd was the pitcher of record after allowing five runs, three being earned, on 11 hits with two strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work. Anderson allowed three earned runs with three walks and three hits allowed in two-thirds of an inning.
 
Emilee Sullivan led the Shippensburg offense by going 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI. The Raiders ended up using five different pitchers in the game, but it was eventually Alicia Ball who secured the final three outs to earn the win.
 
Slippery Rock will now fight to stay alive in the tournament at 3 p.m. with an elimination game against PSAC West rival Mercyhurst. The Lakers won all four meetings in the regular season and were the only team in the PSAC West to sweep SRU this spring.



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