SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team defeated Clarion in a 7-6 game that featured five lead changes Wednesday at Kasnevich Field. The two teams got to the fifth inning of game two before thunderstorms suspended the remainder of the game to a later date.   
 
The one-run win puts The Rock at 17-21 overall with a 10-9 mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. Clarion fell to 10-23 overall and 5-12 in league play.
 
SRU outhit Clarion, 10-8 in game one, led by Aubrey Mansfield's two-run home run that began a 2-for-3 day with three RBI. Julia Nutter's sixth-inning home run put her at 1-for-2 on the day with two RBI.
 
Arielle Brown (2-for-4) knocked out an RBI-double while Mackenzie Freeman (2-for-4) also gave Slippery Rock a pair of hits. Alexsa Hurd and Grace Smith both contributed with 1-for-2 performances.  
 
Hurd (8-8) picked up the victory while staying in the circle for all 7.0 innings. The junior threw an octave of strikeouts while facing 35 batters. Clarion's Megan Anderson (0-10) recorded the loss after pitching the final inning.
 
GAME ONE – Slippery Rock 7, Clarion 6
Slippery Rock benefitted from home runs off the bats of Mansfield and Nutter to secure a 7-6 win over the Golden Eagles.
 
Clarion struck fear into SRU early with a 2-0 lead after the second inning that held until SRU knotted things up at 2-2 in the bottom of the third with Mansfield's home run.
 
Slippery Rock pulled ahead in the bottom of the fifth, an inning that began with an infield single by Hurd. She was able to score on a Freeman RBI-single into left field to give The Rock a 3-2 advantage.
 
Clarion loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth, converting when three runners scored on a double before the batter was tagged out on a rundown. Now down 5-3, The Rock got two back in the home half of the inning, beginning with a two-run homer raked by Nutter that scored Smith.
 
SRU's go-ahead run came on a Mansfield RBI-single that advanced Brown across home plate for a 6-5 lead heading into the seventh.
 
A double and a wild pitch quickly put a Clarion runner in scoring position, turning into the 6-6 tying run on an RBI-single into right field. The Golden Eagles left bases loaded, though, giving SRU a chance to walk off in the bottom of the seventh.
 
That was something Slippery Rock did quite literally, when three straight walks immediately loaded the bases before Brown was hit by a pitch to send Emma Kennedy back home with the game-winning run.  
 
GAME TWO – Suspended in the fifth inning
Clarion earned a 7-4 lead through the top of the fifth inning before thunderstorms rolled through the area to postpone the remainder of the contest to a later date TBA. The game will be resumed with Slippery Rock up to bat in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Any further schedule changes will be announced on RockAthletics.com and all other Slippery Rock official social media sites as information becomes available.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock will see Edinboro for the first time this season when it hosts the Fighting Scots for a doubleheader 2 p.m. Thursday at Kasnevich Field.





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