EDINBORO, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team only needed one win at Edinboro to earn its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division regular season championship in program history but swept the Fighting Scots with 5-4 and 11-5 victories to clinch the top seed in the division Saturday on the road.
 
The pair of victories improve The Rock's historic season with a 25-19 overall record and a 19-7 mark in the PSAC West. The Fighting Scots fall to 7-31 on the year and 6-20 inside PSAC West competition with the results.
 
Alexsa Hurd tied the school's all-time home run record at 40 with two game-one homers, simultaneously becoming the first Rock softball player in history to earn 15 wins in a season as a pitcher. Hurd (15-5) struck 10 batters out in the complete-game win. She concluded the doubleheader batting 3-for-8 with four RBI.
 
Paige Gresgott (5-9) earned the game-two victory with five strikeouts and just one earned run allowed through 6.0 innings. Kayla Williams tossed two strikeouts after being called in for the final three outs.
 
Julia Nutter hit a home run in game two to highlight a 3-for-7 day that came with three RBI. Aubrey Mansfield racked up the extra-base hits in a 3-for-7 showing that saw three doubles and four RBI, while Naomi Childs logged her first career triple in a 2-for-3 afternoon with one RBI.
 
Shaylyn Shall (2-for-6, 1 2B, 2 RBI), Emma Kennedy (2-for-4, 1 2B), Sydney Brown (1-for-3, 1 2B), Alyssa Sheely (1-for-4), Arielle Brown (1-for-7, 4 runs) and Julia Montie (1-for-7) all contributed to SRU's offense as well.
 
GAME ONE – Slippery Rock 5, Edinboro 4
Slippery Rock clinched its first program PSAC West title with a 5-4 win over Edinboro in game one.
 
The Rock got rolling quickly, taking a 2-0 lead through the first inning with a home run from Hurd that scored Arielle Brown. Julia Nutter scored on a wild pitch in the second to add a run and give SRU a 3-0 edge. Three hits and an error including a lead-off home run from Hurd and singles from Montie and Kennedy put SRU up 5-0 in the third.
 
Boro got two back on a home run in the bottom of the fifth, cutting Slippery Rock's lead to 5-2. The same was true in the bottom of the seventh when the Fighting Scots used another two-run blast to mount a rally. Hurd fanned her 10^th batter of the game and a groundout to second base with two runners on secured the 5-4 win for Slippery Rock.
 
Hurd's two home runs headlined a 2-for-3 game with all three of Slippery Rock's RBI. Sydney Brown (1-for-3) and Kennedy (2-for-4) both doubled, while Montie (1-for-4) and Nutter (1-for-3) supplied the two other hits. Hurd (15-5) fanned 10 of the 31 batters she faced in the 7.0-inning win, allowing just four hits and three walks.
 
Annalise Smith (2-5) combined for 4.2 innings in the loss for Edinboro, allowing just one hit in that time. Giana Ficcaglia tossed four strikeouts through 2.1 innings despite allowing six hits. Addy Maguire (1-for-3, 1 RBI) and Abbe Sito (1-for-1, 2 RBI) took credit for Boro's home runs.
 
Slippery Rock produced seven of the game's 11 hits, while both teams committed two errors. The Rock finished the game with eight runners having been left on base compared to Edinboro's six.
 
GAME TWO – Slippery Rock 11, Edinboro 5
Slippery Rock got out to another hot start and nearly run-ruled the Fighting Scots in an 11-5 game-two win, securing the team's second complete-season sweep over Edinboro in three years.
 
The Rock jumped out to a 5-0 lead with only one out on the board, thanks to an RBI-single from Hurd, a two-run double by Mansfield and a two-run home run off the bat of Nutter. SRU pulled away to a 7-0 advantage in the second inning thanks to another two-run double from Mansfield.
 
Edinboro was able to get one back in the bottom of the second on an RBI-single and an error, but The Rock responded with an additional run of their own in the top of the third to take an 8-1 lead. This time it came from a single into left field from Shall that plated Sheely.
 
SRU continued to cruise through the game, getting out of the third inning by turning a double play and adding two runs for a 10-1 lead in the top of the fourth courtesy of a single from Nutter and a triple from Childs that scored Sarah Brown. Boro shaved the deficit down to 10-2 in the home half of the inning with an RBI-groundout with bases loaded.
 
Slippery Rock was down to just one strike required in the bottom of the fifth to mercy rule the game, but Edinboro utilized a single into right field with two runners on to make it a 10-3 game and keep comeback hopes alive. Gresgott went 1-2-3 through the bottom of the sixth with three strikeouts looking.
 
Shall added an insurance run for The Rock on an RBI-double that scored Arielle Brown in the top of the seventh. The Fighting Scots scrounged two runs quickly in the bottom portion of the inning on four hits and two errors, but could not get the score any closer than 11-5.
 
Nutter's home run came as part of a 2-for-4 game with three RBI, while Childs' triple happened in a 2-for-3 effort with one RBI. Mansfield doubled three times for four RBI in a 3-for-4 game, while Shall's double highlighted a 2-for-3 cameo with two RBI. Arielle Brown (1-for-3), Hurd (1-for-5, 1 RBI) and Sheely (1-for-4) each got a hit as well.
 
Gresgott (5-9) earned the win for Slippery Rock with five strikeouts and one earned run allowed through the opening 6.0 innings. Williams finished things off with two Ks in the final 1.0 inning.
 
Grace Kessel (3-10) tossed one strikeout in the losing 0.1 inning for Boro, while Smith came back in for 6.2 more innings and four additional strikeouts. Edinboro's Hilary Sissem led the team going 4-for-4 with one RBI and a double.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 12 hits, six errors and seven left on base, while the Fighting Scots concluded the contest with 11 hits, no errors and nine left on.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock will celebrate Senior Day prior to its regular season finale against California (Pa.) 1 p.m. Sunday at Kasnevich Field.





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