GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College softball team split a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) games Tuesday at Tomcat Park against the Grove City Wolverines. Thiel lost the first game of the twinbill 2-1 before rebounding with a 10-4 win in the second game.
In the first game, Grove City scored a run in the second and another run in the top of the fifth. Thiel cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fifth when
Bailey Hoover (Smock, Pa./Uniontown) hit a single to center field that drove in
Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk) from second base.
Neither team scored over the final two innings, and the Wolverines held on for the league win.
Breanna Lent led Grove City with a trio of singles in the first game. Hoover paced the Tomcats with a run-scoring single in the fifth.
Jessica Kelley (Freeport, Pa./Freeport) absorbed the loss. She allowed two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Ashley Cornelius earned the win. She allowed one run on three hits with seven strikeouts.
Thiel built up a quick 6-0 lead in the second game behind four runs in the first and two more in the second.
A.J. Corradi (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) got the Tomcats going in the second game with a run-scoring double down the left field line in the first inning. Hoover and
Allyssa Kidwell (Fort Mohave, Ariz./Mohave Accelerated) followed with RBI singles later in the first.
In the second,
Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to center field, and Hoover followed with a single up the middle to produce another run.
The Wolverines scored three runs in the fourth, but the Tomcats matched their effort in the bottom of the inning. Kidwell drove in her second run of the game on a single to left field in the bottom of the fourth.
Madison Fullmer (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) and
Alexa Fike (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional) also drove in a run.
Thiel extended its lead to 10-3 in the fifth when Hoover drove in Corradi on a single through the left side of the infield. Grove City got that run back in the sixth, but the Tomcats held on to win the PAC game, 10-4.
Thiel scattered 16 hits in the second game.
Hoover led the Tomcats at the plate in the second game with a 3-for-4 performance that included three RBIs and a run scored. Kidwell went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Corradi, Falce, Fullmer and Fike also recorded two hits apiece.
Shannon Baker (Corry, Pa./Corry) earned the win for Thiel, her fifth of the season. She allowed four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.
The Tomcats will return to action Wednesday when they host the Westminster Titans. The first game of the PAC doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.