GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College softball team split a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) games against the Washington & Jefferson Presidents Friday at Tomcat Park. Thiel won the first game 1-0 before suffering a 10-9 nine-inning loss in the second game.
Thiel's
Allison Williams (Corry, Pa./Corry) and Washington & Jefferson's Krista McCartney engaged in a pitchers' duel in the first game. After five scoreless innings, the Tomcats scored the only run they needed in the bottom of the sixth when
Cara Baker (Corry, Pa./Corry)'s groundout allowed
Miranda Reesman (Leechburg, Pa./Leechburg) to score with the help of an errant throw.
Caitlyn Carney (Lake Milton, Ohio/Jackson Milton) and
Amanda Auxier (Parma Heights, Ohio/Valley Forge) led the Tomcats with a pair of hits. McCartney led the Presidents with two hits.
Outfielder
Shyanne Sanders (Herminie, Pa./Yough) also made a key play in the field for the Tomcats in the top of the sixth inning. With a runner on third base and only one out, Sanders caught a fly ball in shallow right field, and her one-hop throw to home plate was in time for Reesman to make the tag and keep the game scoreless.
The Tomcats and Presidents combined for 33 hits in the second game. Thiel led 9-7 heading into the top of the seventh, but W&J scored a pair of runs to force extra innings. After a scoreless eighth inning, W&J's Logann Woodley drove in the eventual winning run on a two-out single to left field in the ninth.
Alexa Fike (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional) recorded three hits for the Tomcats in the second game. Baker recorded two hits, one of which was a double, and a pair of RBIs. Sanders and
A.J. Corradi (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) also notched two hits while
Jessica Kelley (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) drove in two runs on a single.
Rachel Marx and Abby Cunningham notched five and four hits for the Presidents, respectively. Morgan Figura and Woodley each recorded three RBIs.
Emily Watson earned the win for the Presidents. She allowed five runs on eight hits in eight innings of relief work. Williams took the loss. In 5 1/3 innings of relief work, she allowed four runs on 10 hits.
The Tomcats will wrap up the 2016 season Saturday on the road against the Geneva Golden Tornadoes. The first game of the PAC twin bill is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
