PITTSBURGH – The Thiel College softball team lost a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) games Saturday to the Chatham Cougars at West Field in Pittsburgh. Thiel lost the first game 5-0 and the second game 9-7.
 
Madison Howell threw a three-hit shutout for the Cougars in the first game. Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) led Thiel with two hits, one of which was a double.
 
The Tomcats opened the second game with two runs in their first-at bat. Jessica Kelley (Freeport, Pa./Freeport) drove in a run on a double to left field while Bailey Hoover (Smock, Pa./Uniontown) knocked in a run on a single to center field, but Chatham got both of those runs back in the bottom of the first inning.
 
Falce put the Tomcats ahead 3-2 in the top of the third on a double to center field, but the Cougars came back with three runs in the bottom of the third.
 
Madison Fullmer (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) got Thiel within a run in the fourth on a single to center field. The Tomcats went on to tie up the game in the top of the fifth (5-5), but the Cougars scored four runs in their next two at-bats to take a 9-5 lead into the seventh inning.
 
Thiel scored a pair of runs in the seventh but could not tie up the game. Miranda Reesman (Vandergrift, Pa./Leechburg) hit an RBI-double in the seventh while Chase Gifford (Buffalo, N.Y./City Honors School) drove in the second run on a single.
 
Falce went 3-for-4 with two triples, a double, two runs scored and one RBI in the second game. Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk) went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
The Tomcats (15-23, 8-6 PAC) will conclude regular-season play Wednesday when they host the Geneva Golden Tornadoes at Tomcat Park. The first game of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.