BINGHAMTON, N.Y – The Slippery Rock University softball team sees its season come to an end at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament after two games Thursday at Grand Slam Park. The Rock prevailed over Clarion, 8-3, before falling to Kutztown University, 5-4.
After the two results, Slippery Rock ends the season with a 27-20 record overall that included a 20-8 inside the PSAC West. The Rock's 27 victories are tied for the third most in a single season in program history.
Kutztown improved to 35 -19 with the win and moves on to play Indiana University (Pa.) 5:30 p.m. Thursday with a chance to make day three of the PSAC Tournament with a victory. The losing team sees its PSAC Championship hopes come to a close.
Clarion dropped to 18-26 on the year, with its loss to The Rock ending the Golden Eagles' season.
Slippery Rock was led today by eight players who had hits in both games on the day.
Grace Smith led all Rock player going 5-for-7 with three runs and three RBIs.
Jordyn Pelles followed Smith with a 4-for-6 showing with one run and two RBIs.
Four Rock players earned three hits on the day.
Sarah Brown went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and
Alyssa Sheely finished the day going 3-for-7 with two runs.
Maddie Cavenaugh and
Alyssa Massucci each went 3-for-8, while Cavenaugh had one run and one RBI, along with three runs and one RBI from Massucci.
Cavenaugh ends her freshman campaign with the most runs in a single season in Slippery Rock history with 53. The freshman also ranked tied for second in RBIs (48), second in total bases (120), second in walks (31), second in on-base percentage, third in slugging percentage (.800), third in hits (66), fifth in batting average (.440), tied for seventh in stolen bases (21),
Addie Deal and
Aubrey Mansfield round out SRU players with hits in both games as each ended the day going 2-for-9 with one RBI.
Rachel Baker (15-9) pitched all 14 innings today for Slippery Rock, going 1-1 after surrendering eight runs on 16 hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. Baker ends her season with the second most victories in a single season in program history as well as the sixth most strikeouts in a single season for SRU (131) in the fifth most innings thrown (147.1).
Along with Cavenaugh, Sheely and Massucci finds themselves in the single-season record books with 56 and 53 hits, respectively, that lands Sheely tied for fifth and Massucci 10
th. Sheely also finished with 43 RBIs, the seventh most in program history.
GAME 1: Slippery Rock 8 – Clarion 3
W: Rachel Baker (15-8)
L: Emma Hipps (8-12)
Slippery Rock jumped all over Clarion early with seven runs in the first five innings, highlighted by RBIs from Smith (2), Pelles (2), Massucci, Cavenaugh and
Shaylyn Shall. Massucci hit her fourth home run on the season, the second most on the team. Smith and Pelles each earned their RBIs with doubles.
The Golden Eagles scored one run in the bottom of the fifth.
The Rock answered with one run in the seventh after Deal brought in Pelles with an RBI-double.
Clarion scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too late as Slippery Rock closed out an 8-3 victory.
Offensively, Slippery Rock was led by Pelles, Massucci and Shall, who each had multi-hit games. Pelles finished a perfect 3-for-3 with one run and one RBs, while Shall went 2-for-2 with one run and two RBIs. Massucci was SRU's final player with multiple hits against Clarion, going 2-for-4 with three runs and one RBI.
Each Rock batter against the Golden Eagles recorded at least one hit as Cavenaugh, Deal, Mansfield, Sheely, Smith, Brown and
Sydney Brown each grabbed one hit. Smith (2), Cavenaugh and Deal picked up RBIs, while Sheely and
Sydney Brown also scored one run each.
In the circle, Baker picked up her 15
th win of the season after pitching all seven innings, giving up just three runs on nine hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Emma Hipps (8-12) was handed the loss for Clarion after pitching five innings and giving up seven runs (three earned) on 13 hits with four strikeouts. Rian Reed finished the game for the Golden Eagles, pitching two innings, surrendering one run on one hit and three walks with two strikeouts.
GAME 2: Kutztown 5 – Slippery Rock 4
W: Haley Gravish (23-6)
L: Rachel Baker (15-9)
Kutztown opened the scoring with one run in the top of the first, but Slippery Rock answered with one of its own in the bottom half of the inning.
Cavenaugh started the inning with a double before Mansfield drove her in with a one-out RBI-single.
The Rock took their first lead with one run in the bottom of the second inning. Smith reached base on a one-out single with
Sarah Brown driving her in with a two-out RBI-double, giving SRU a 2-1 advantage.
The Golden Bears re-took the lead with two runs in the top of the third.
Continuing the back-and-forth affair, Slippery Rock tied the game, 3-3, in the bottom of the fourth inning. Smith led off the frame with a double and advanced to second on a Shall groundout.
Sarah Brown grabbed her second RBI of the game with another RBI-double.
The Rock was able to load the bases in the same inning, but failed to bring another runner home. That would be SRU's downfall as it stranded nine runners on base compared to three for Kutztown.
The Golden Bears jumped back on top with two runs in the top of the fifth.
Slippery Rock was able to cut its deficit to one in the bottom of the inning. Sheely, Massucci and Smith all singled to begin the inning with Smith grabbing an RBI after driving in Sheely.
SRU would not be able to tie the game in its final nine outs, falling to Kutztown, 5-4.
At the plate, Smith ended the game a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs and one RBI, while Cavenaugh, Sheely and
Sarah Brown each picked up two hits. Cavenaugh and Sheely each scored one run, as
Sarah Brown earned two RBIs.
Deal, Mansfield, Massucci and Pelles all grabbed one hit in the final game of the season for SRU. Mansfield also picked up one RBI.
In the circle, Baker took the loss for Slippery Rock, surrendering five runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
Haley Gravish earned the win for Kutztown after coming in and pitching 3.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits with three strikeouts.
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