SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The top two teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division remained level in the standings after the Slippery Rock University softball team took game one from Indiana University (Pa.) 6-5 but lost a tumultuous game two 16-10 Tuesday at Kasnevich Field.
 
The Rock remained at .500 overall, moving to 14-14 on the season and 8-2 in the PSAC West. The Crimson Hawks improved to 17-7 overall as well as 8-2 within league play.
 
Julia Nutter combined for three home runs between the two games in a 3-for-7 day that came with four RBI. Aubrey Mansfield homered and doubled in a 4-for-7 performance that brought three RBI. Alyssa Sheely went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double as well as two RBI, while Sydney Brown logged a 3-for-4 showing.
 
Arielle Brown went 3-for-7 with a double and an RBI, as Julia Montie (2-for-6, 1 2B, 2 RBI), Alexsa Hurd (2-for-8, 1 2B, 1 RBI) and Shaylyn Shall (2-for-8, 1 RBI) each added two hits. Sarah Brown (1-for-2) and Naomi Childs (1-for-3) each contributed offensively as well.
 
Hurd (9-4) tossed 11 strikeouts and allowed just three hits in a complete game one, her eighth consecutive complete-game showing with at least 10 Ks. Paige Gresgott (2-7) dealt three strikeouts in 1.2 innings getting the game-two start before Kayla Williams (5.0 IP) and Mackenzie Borkovich (0.1 IP) wrapped up the doubleheader.
 
GAME ONE – Slippery Rock 6, Indiana (Pa.) 5
Slippery Rock overcame a five-run deficit and accounted for 11 of the game's 14 hits to snatch a 6-5 win to begin the day. IUP took a 5-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an RBI-walk that was followed up by a grand slam.
 
SRU pulled off a double steal in the bottom of the third with Sheely taking home plate and Arielle Brown fighting through a difficult throwdown from behind the plate and a rundown to snag second. Sheely's stolen base cut into the lead and put SRU on the board in a 5-1 game heading into the fourth.
 
Nutter and Sheely both homered quickly in the bottom of the fifth, bookending a Sydney Brown single that brought the score to 5-4. A Hurd RBI-single that plated Arielle Brown knotted the game at 5-5, and a Mansfield single into right field that delivered Hurd gave Slippery Rock a 6-5 lead.
 
IUP left four on base through the remainder of the game, unable to get another hit out of the infield and score any additional runs.
 
Hurd (9-4) secured the victory with 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings, while IUP was able to supplement its three hits with 10 walks. Sydney Brown led The Rock with a 3-for-3 game, while Nutter (1-for-3) and Sheely (2-for-3, 1 2B) each produced a home run. Arielle Brown (1-for-3), Shall (1-for-4), Hurd (1-for-3) and Montie (1-for-3, 1 2B) all aided offensively.
 
Jordan Sylvia (1-for-3) took credit for IUP's second-inning grand slam, one of the team's three hits in the contest. Kendall Young started the game for the Crimson Hawks, tossing six strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Elizabeth Kasper (0-1) suffered the loss with no strikeouts in the game's last 2.0 frames.
 
While SRU outhit IUP 11-3, neither team committed an error. The Rock left just five runners on base as opposed to Indiana's nine.
 
GAME TWO – Indiana (Pa.) 16, Slippery Rock 10
Four home runs weren't enough for Slippery Rock in a 16-10 game-two loss, a game that saw just four half-innings without a run put on the board.
 
Indiana took a 1-0 lead despite leaving bases loaded in the top of the first but quickly lost it as Slippery Rock tallied four runs off four hits in the bottom of the first. Mansfield and Nutter homered on back-to-back pitches to follow up a sac-fly from Montie, which pushed The Rock out ahead to a 4-1 advantage.
 
Indiana batted around on three hits and an error in the top of the second, piling on seven runs in the process and pulling back ahead, 8-4. Arielle Brown doubled down the left line in the home half of the inning, which scored Jessica Goldhardt and got one run back, chipping the deficit to 8-5.
 
Two errors and an IUP single in the top of the third lunged the Crimson Hawks out further, 11-5. Slippery Rock responded with an additional run on a Shall RBI-single to make it 11-6 in the bottom of the third, but left bases loaded.
 
The outburst of scoring continued into the fourth, which saw three more hits and an error benefit IUP, which took a 12-6 lead but almost lost in in the bottom half, where Slippery Rock utilized Montie and Nutter home runs as well as Mansfield and Sheely singles to total four runs and trail just 12-10 entering the fifth.
 
Aggressive base running gave way to an extra run on a groundout in the top of the fifth for IUP, which gave the Crimson Hawks a 13-10 edge. Neither team scored again until IUP padded its lead with three more runs in the top of the seventh, earning a 16-10 lead that held through a three-up, three-down final inning.
 
Nutter's two home runs highlighted a 2-for-4 game with three RBI. Mansfield went 3-for-4 with two RBI, recording a home run and a double. Montie crushed a home run in a 1-for-3 effort that came with two RBI.
 
Arielle Brown went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI with additional hits stemming from Shall (1-for-4), Hurd (1-for-5), Sarah Brown (1-for-2), Sheely (1-for-1) and Childs (1-for-3).
 
Gresgott (2-7) racked up all three of SRU's strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Williams faced the next 28 batters over the course of 5.0 innings before Borkovich closed out the game's final 0.1 out.
 
SRU finished the game with 13 hits, five errors and eight left on base, while the Crimson Hawks concluded with 15 hits, one error and 10 left on base.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock will return to the road 2:30 p.m. Friday and travel to California (Pa.) in a PSAC West twinbill.





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