GLENVILLE, W.Va. –  The Slippery Rock University softball team enjoyed a walk-off home run from Aubrey Mansfield in a 3-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan College in between losses to Fairmont State University and Frostburg State University at the Mountain East Conference/Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Crossover Sunday.
 
Playing three games in the same day for their first time in seven years, The Rock began the season with a 5-4 loss to Fairmont State and ended opening day in a 6-3 defeat to Frostburg State.
 
While Fairmont State and Frostburg State improved to records of 7-1 and 4-3, respectively, West Virginia Wesleyan dropped to 0-2 to begin the year.
 
Julia Montie, who hammered out two home runs in her first two at-bats of the season in the Fairmont State game, ended the day going 5-for-8 at the plate as the team's leading batter. Arielle Brown batted .375 (3-for-8) while both Alexsa Hurd and Aubrey Mansfield hit 3-for-10 each over the course of the three games.
 
Hurd also wound up as SRU's lone winning pitcher on the day, throwing 115 pitches in the entirety of the Frostburg State game, allowing just one earned run.
 
GAME ONE – Fairmont State 5, Slippery Rock 4
Despite both teams recording seven hits, Slippery Rock found itself on the losing end of game one in a narrow 5-4 defeat to Fairmont State. 
 
After an RBI-single put the Falcons on the board in the top of the second inning, Montie homered to right center in her first at-bat of the year to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Fairmont State regained the lead in the third inning, going up 4-1 in what became the highest-scoring inning of the game.
 
After Hurd doubled, Mansfield was able to cut into the lead by bringing her home on an RBI-double, making the score 4-2 to end the third inning.
 
The Rock were quickly back up to bat in the bottom of the fourth, when Montie led things off with her second homer of the game, this time to left field. A frenzy of wild pitches gave SRU an opportunity to tie the lead, but The Rock were forced to settle with a 4-3 disadvantage after four innings.
 
Fairmont State tacked on what became the game-winning run in the fifth inning before SRU again left three players on base in response. Slippery Rock got one back after Mansfield recorded one of her three RBI on the game but was unable to find the game-tying run in the 5-4 loss.
 
Kelsi Anderson (0-1) struck out nine Falcons batters through her six innings pitched before being relieved by Mackenzie Borkovich in the seventh inning. Fairmont State found its winning pitcher in Allyson Nord, who struck out three of the 19 batters faced in 3.2 innings.
 
Montie led Slippery Rock at the plate going 3-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI while Hurd went 2-for-2, getting walked twice.
 
GAME TWO – Slippery Rock 3, West Virginia Wesleyan 2
In the fourth all-time meeting in school history, Slippery Rock secured its first program win over West Virginia Wesleyan in a 3-2 win in which The Rock never trailed.
 
Facing two outs in the second inning, a Paige Parker single followed by a Grace Smith walk put Parker in scoring position. She reached third after Jeanna Sukey found herself heading to first base on an error. With bases loaded, an RBI-single from Brown was enough to bring Parker and Smith home, granting Slippery Rock a 2-0 advantage.
 
A pair of RBI from WVWC in the top of the third tied the game up at 2-2, but strong defense and crisp pitching in Hurd's (1-0) first game of the season in the circle limited the Bobcats to just two additional hits throughout the remainder of the game. Hurd concluded the game having struck out eight batters.
 
Slippery Rock also struggled offensively, leaving a combined seven runners on base from the third to sixth innings.
 
Mansfield was the leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh, where Slippery Rock looked for any spark offensively. What The Rock ended up finding was instead a near-immediate walk-off home run from the sophomore of Stow, Ohio, clinching the 3-2 victory for the Green and White in exciting fashion.
 
Brown was Slippery Rock's leading batter going 3-for-4 with two RBI, with Mansfield earning SRU's only other RBI in her 1-for-3 showing at the plate.
 
GAME THREE – Frostburg State 6, Slippery Rock 3
The Rock looked to finish their marathon day with a 2-1 record but was instead held to a 6-3 loss against Frostburg State.
 
Slippery Rock initially took a 1-0 lead with an RBI-double courtesy of Alyssa Sheely, but soon found itself with a 2-1 deficit after the opening inning.
 
The momentum swung back in favor of The Rock when Emma Kennedy came home on an RBI from Brown before Samantha Susany scored on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 3-1.
 
The bottom of the second featured yet another change in action when the Bobcats were able to tie things up at 3-3 with a pair of singles and an error.
 
With Slippery Rock's batting stymied through the rest of the night, Frostburg State tacked on additional runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings.
 
The Rock had an opportunity to make things interesting in the top of the seventh frame but ended up leaving two runners on to end the game.
 
Paige Gresgott (0-1) pitched in the first three innings of the game before being swapped for Borkovich, who ended the day having pitched 4.2 innings. The Bobcats needed just one strikeout all game from left-handed pitcher Sydney Theobald, who pitched a complete game.
 
Montie hit twice in her two at-bats, while Susany went 2-for-3 in the batter's box with Brown and Sheely logging both RBI.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock will take to the road March 2-3 with a pair of doubleheaders against PSAC East opponents Shippensburg University and Shepherd University. The Rock will see their first pitch against Shippensburg 1 p.m. March 2.




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