GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College softball team split a pair of non-conference games Thursday against the Allegheny Gators at Tomcat Park. Thiel won the first game 8-0 in six innings before falling 10-8 in the second game.
 
Scoreless after two innings, the Tomcats took control of the first game with a 5-run effort in the third inning. Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk) got the Tomcats started with a 1-out double and scored when Jessica Kelley (Freeport, Pa./Freeport) doubled to left field.
 
Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) and Quinn Ursprung (Bel Air, Md./C Milton Wright) provided the rest of Thiel's power in the third with 2-run homers, both of which sailed over the left field fence.
 
The Tomcats went on to score three runs in the sixth inning to end the contest early. Bailey Hoover (Smock, Pa./Uniontown) led off the inning with a double to left center and scored on Madison Fullmer's (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) single to left field. After Woytek reached first on a bunt, Kelley knocked in the final two runs of the game on a double to center field.
 
Thiel notched 12 hits in 27 at-bats the first game. Falce and Ursprung each hit a 2-run homer in the third while Kelley hit a pair of doubles and notched three RBIs. Woytek and Miranda Reesman (Vandergrift, Pa./Leechburg) also recorded two hits apiece.
 
Kelley tossed a complete game shutout. She allowed four hits and struck out four batters.
 
The Gators led 3-1 after three innings in the second game and scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to extend their lead to 5-1.
 
Thiel responded with five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-5 lead. Woytek recorded the key hit in the inning, a 1-out single to right field that scored two runs. Hoover, Fullmer and Falce also drove in a run apiece in the fourth.
 
Thiel picked up another run in the fifth on Fullmer's infield single, but the Gators plated two runs in the top of the sixth to force a 7-7 tie.
 
Allyssa Kidwell (Fort Mohave, Ariz./Mohave Accelerated) drove in the go-ahead run for the Tomcats in the bottom of the sixth. However, the Gators plated three runs in the top of the seventh and the Tomcats managed just one baserunner in their final at-bat.
 
Falce, Reesman, Hoover and Fullmer each collected two hits apiece for the Tomcats in the second game.
 
The Tomcats are scheduled to open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play Saturday when they host the Bethany Bison. The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m.