WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University softball team traded walk-off results Monday on day three of The Spring Games at DiamondPlex Field in Winter Haven, Florida.
 
Slippery Rock opened the day by defeating St. Thomas Aquinas College, 3-2, followed by a 7-6 loss to Northern State University. The split moves The Rock's record to 3-10 overall while Saint Thomas Aquinas drops to 4-11 and Northern State improves to 1-3.
 
SRU was led on the day by the duo of Arielle Brown and Sarah Brown. In addition to Arielle Brown driving in Sarah Brown for the game-winning run against St. Thomas Aquinas, the two athletes also had hits in both games Monday.
 
From her spot atop The Rock's batting order, Arielle Brown went a combined 3-for-5 over the two games with two runs scored, three RBI and three walks. Brown is now hitting .389 in 13 games this season with a .542 on-base percentage.
 
Sarah Brown enjoyed her best two-game stretch in a Rock uniform as the freshman catcher went 4-for-7 with two runs and a double.

GAME ONE: SRU 3 – STAC 2
Kelsi Anderson pitched her best game of the year while Arielle Brown provided SRU's offense with some late-inning heroics as The Rock defeated St. Thomas Aquinas, 3-2, to snap a six-game losing streak.
 
Anderson earned the 30th win of her career by scattering two runs on five hits and a walk over a complete-game effort that included five strikeouts.
 
With the majority of her final collegiate season still to come, Anderson is now tied with Shauna Walker (2008-11) for second in SRU program history for wins in a career. Already SRU's career strikeout leader, Anderson now needs four more wins to pass Brooke Dawson (2015-18) and become the program's all-time leader in wins.
 
Slippery Rock carried a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning behind a dominant outing from Anderson and a two-run double in the first inning off the bat of Grace Smith.
 
Anderson (1-4) took a perfect game into the sixth inning before the Trojans were finally able to get to The Rock's senior ace with three hits and a walk. However, a potentially disastrous inning was mitigated to minimal damage thanks to Anderson who stranded the bases loaded while giving up just one run.
 
St. Thomas Aquinas took advantage of a fielding error to score the game-tying run an inning later before Anderson could get out of another jam by leaving runners on the corners.
 
However, Slippery Rock was able to avoid extra innings in the bottom of the frame when with one out Sarah Brown and Arielle Brown delivered back-to-back hits with Arielle's driving in Sarah and propelling SRU to a 3-2 walk-off victory.
 
Arielle Brown went 2-for-2 in the opener with one run scored, one RBI and two walks. Sarah Brown was 2-for-3 with a run while Smith, Aubrey Mansfield, Julia Montie and Alyssa Sheely collected one hit apiece.
 
Sarah Clancy (2-6) was the pitcher of record for the Trojans. She pitched all 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks.

GAME TWO: NSU 7 – SRU 6
Slippery Rock found itself on the other side of a walk-off decision in its second game of the day when Northern State outlasted The Rock, 7-6.
 
The Rock held a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning only for Northern State to answer back with a three-run frame to even the game. Not to be outdone, Slippery Rock delivered a three-run inning of its own in the sixth, but couldn't close out the win.
 
The Wolves would take advantage of errors in both the sixth and seventh innings to score two runs in each frame en route to the 7-6 comeback victory.
 
Mackenzie Borkovich got the start in the circle for The Rock. She went five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks before giving way to Alexsa Hurd (1-3), who gave up two unearned runs in the defeat.
 
Arielle Brown drove in two more runs in the loss while Hurd, Emma Kennedy, Julia Nutter and Naomi Childs each registered hits with Childs producing her first RBI of the season.
 
Abby Rux (3-0) picked up the complete-game victory for Northern State. Liv Richardson hit a two-run home run as well to pace Northern State.
 
Following an off day Tuesday, Slippery Rock returns to competition at The Spring Games with two more games Wednesday starting at 9 a.m. against Lewis University followed by an 11:30 contest versus Bloomfield College.





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