PITTSBURGH – The Thiel Tomcats split a non-conference doubleheader Saturday against the La Roche Redhawks. Thiel won the first game 9-4 but fell 5-3 in the second game.
 
Jessica Kelley (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) staked the Tomcats to an early 2-0 lead in the first game with a 2-RBI double in the first inning.
 
After four innings the Tomcats held on to a 3-1 lead before breaking the game wide open with a 5-run fifth inning. Kelley drove in a pair of runs on a triple while Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) and Miranda Reesman (Vandergrift, Pa./Leechburg) each knocked in a run on singles. Reesman also scored on a passed ball.
 
Kelley led the Tomcats at the plate in the first game with a 3-for-4 performance that included four RBIs, a triple and a double. Alana Callahan (Austintown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) also went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI while Falce went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Kelley earned the win in the first game. She allowed four runs, only two of which were earned, on 10 hits.
 
In the second game, Falce tied up the game 1-1 in the third inning with a single to center field.
 
La Roche responded with two runs in the bottom of the third, but Thiel got those runs back in the fifth thanks in part to another RBI-single to center field by Falce.
 
The Redhawks went on to reclaim the lead (4-3) in the bottom of the fifth and picked up an insurance run in the sixth while keeping the Tomcats off the scoreboard the rest of the game.
 
Falce went 3-for-4 in the second game with a pair of RBIs. A.J. Corradi (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) also went 3-for-4 with a run scored while Madison Fullmer (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Mackenzie Gullette (Dunlap, Ill. /Dunlap) took the loss in the second game. She allowed five runs, two of which were earned, on six hits over six innings.
 
Thiel is scheduled to host a non-conference doubleheader against Penn State Behrend on Monday. The first game is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m.