WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team fell to a pair of opponents hailing from the Northeast-10 Conference in a 5-4 decision to Saint Michael's College and a 1-0 loss to Bentley University Sunday at The Spring Games.
 
The losses push The Rock's overall record back to 2-9, while Saint Michael's improves to 2-3 and Bentley climbs to 3-5 on the year.
 
Alyssa Sheely hit .500 on the day in a 3-for-6 outing, a team-high for Slippery Rock.
 
Julia Nutter went 2-for-6 with two RBI and a triple, as Emma Kennedy also drove in a triple in a 2-for-6 day with an RBI.  
 
Samantha Susany batted 1-for-3 in the pair of games with one RBI, while Arielle Brown rounded out SRU's top hitters with a 2-for-4 cameo.
 
Alexsa Hurd (1-2) pitched six innings, leading The Rock's bullpen with six strikeouts and allowing zero earned runs. Mackenzie Borkovich (1-2) recorded two strikeouts in 4.2 innings, also allowing no runs, while Kelsi Anderson (0-4) struck out two batters in the start against Saint Michael's.
 
GAME ONE – Saint Michael's 5, Slippery Rock 4
Slippery Rock dropped the opening game of the day, 5-4, as a sixth-inning rally fell one run shy of tying things up.
 
The Purple Knights started off strong with a 2-0 advantage through the opening inning, only for The Rock to equalize at 2-2 to end the second. SRU's first hit of the game came from a single by Sheely into right center followed later by a single to left field from Kennedy.
 
A strong RBI-triple delivered by Nutter brought Kennedy home for SRU's first run, as the very next at-bat likewise turned into an RBI. Susany knocked a single into center field that allowed Nutter to bring the tying run to the plate.
 
Saint Michael's responded with its final scoring of the day in a 3-run effort in the top of the third inning.
 
Pitchers made quick work of the opposing batters from that point on until the bottom of the sixth when Kennedy tacked on SRU's second RBI-triple of the day to cut the score to 5-3. Kennedy then scored when Nutter singled up the middle, rallying the score to 5-4.
 
Brown led the seventh inning off with a single for The Rock, but that ended up being the team's last hit in the one-run loss.
 
Kennedy and Nutter both hit 2-for-3, each with a triple. The duo combined for three RBI.
 
Saint Michael's benefitted from six different players with at least one hit in the game, despite SRU holding a 10-8 edge in that category. CJ Davidson pitched the full seven innings for the Purple Knights, striking out just one of The Rock's batters.  
 
GAME TWO – Bentley 1, Slippery Rock 0
The Falcons needed just one run that did not come until the sixth inning to secure a 1-0 victory over Slippery Rock in game two on the day.
 
No team brought more than five batters to the plate in a single inning until the bottom of the sixth when Bentley's Katie Welch drove in the game-winning RBI-single after the Falcons' baserunner initially got on with a fielding error.
 
Slippery Rock equaled Bentley in hits, 5-5, finding the bulk of its opportunities in the top of the fifth when Brown and Naomi Childs both got on the bag with a single. Both of those runners, however, were left on base when the side was retired.
 
Hurd pitched all six innings of the game, striking out a game-high six batters in 23 at-bats. Bentley utilized Payton Doiron through five innings, who tossed two strikeouts, before Riley Piromalli snatched the win by shutting the door in the final two innings.
 
Childs guided SRU's offense going 2-for-2 at the plate, joining Sheely who also added two hits.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock will reach the halfway point in The Spring Games by playing games five and six of the trip tomorrow. The Rock will face Saint Thomas Aquinas College at 10:15 a.m. before a 12:15 p.m. meeting with Northern State University at the DiamondPlex.




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