LATROBE, Pa. – After being defeated by the Westminster 10-3 in the first game of the 2012 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Softball Championship Tournament, the Tomcats managed to avoid elimination with a four run rally in the top of the seventh inning to defeat top-seeded Saint Vincent 4-1 on Thursday evening in Latrobe, Pa.

In the elimination game, the Bearcats got on the board first on a sacrifice fly by Samantha Baczek that scored Lauren Daniels in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 1-0. After that score, both pitchers, Thiel's Amanda Callahan (Austintown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) and Saint Vincent's Ally Vrcek, were effective as Callahan allowed just one hit over the next four innings, and Vrcek scattered four hits between the fourth and sixth innings.

With Thiel down to their final three outs in the contest, and possibly the season, the bats came alive and struck for four runs in the inning. After Morgan White (Warren, Ohio/Champion) started the inning with a double to left center, coach Amy Schafer made a change to bring in Ali House (Liberty, Ohio/Liberty) to pinch hit. House came through with a 15-pitch walk, and on the fourth ball, a wild pitch allowed White to move to third. Callahan then helped her own cause, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field which scored White to make the score 1-1. After back-to-back singles by Becky Betteridge (Conneaut, Ohio/Conneaut) and Ashley Rable (Warren, Ohio/Champion) loaded the bases, Ashley Dolan (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional) singled to center field to score Ashley Ames (Mt. Lebanon, Pa./Upper St. Clair) to give the Tomcats the 2-1 lead. An error by the Bearcat second basemen allowed Betteridge to score, and Molly Jo Everett (Medina, Ohio/Highland) knocked in the final run of the inning with a single which scored Dolan to make the score 4-1.

Callahan then shut the door in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the win for Thiel.

In the contest, the Tomcats were led by Dolan, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Callahan and Everett also added RBIs in the contest.

With her 1-for-4 day, Danielle Massengill (North Bend, Wash./Mt. Si) surpassed the Tomcat record for hits in a season with 53, previously held by Laura Davin (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) who collected 52 hits in 2009.

In the first contest of the day, Thiel was defeated by Westminster 10-3. In the game, Thiel was paced by 2-for-3 days by both Massengill and Ang Masters (Arnold, Pa./Valley).

With the win over Saint Vincent, the Tomcats will move on to the second day of competition, where they will once again take on the Titans of Westminster for the right to play in the championship contest. The Golden Tornadoes of Geneva earned a spot in the championship game with wins over Saint Vincent and Westminster and will play the winner of Thiel and Westminster at 1 p.m.