CLERMONT, Fla. – The Thiel College softball team defeated the Northland Jills (11-0) and the Rosemont Ravens (17-0) Thursday during play in The Spring Games in Clermont, Fla.
 
Already leading 3-0, the Tomcats took a 4-0 lead in the third inning against the Jills when Chase Gifford (Buffalo, N.Y./City Honors School) hit a double down the left field line. In the fourth inning, Breanna Mesich (Jeannette, Pa./Hempfield) and Bailey Hoover (Smock, Pa./Uniontown) drove in a run apiece on RBI-doubles. Thiel went on to add five more runs in the sixth inning.
 
Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk), who scored three runs and stole two bases, and Mesich both recorded two hits against Northland. Alivia Heller paced the Jills with two hits.
 
Ashtin Kirkwood (Elderton, Pa./West Shamokin) tossed a four-hit, complete game shutout. Kirkwood also struck out three batters.
 
Mesich got the Tomcats started in their second game of the day against the Rosemont Ravens with a bases-clearing double in the second inning. Kylee Yothers (Indian Head, Pa./Connellsville Area) gave Thiel a 5-0 lead in the third on a 2-RBI single to left field. Woytek and Mesich also notched run-scoring singles in the third.
 
The Tomcats scored nine runs in the fourth inning. Yothers drove in a pair of runs on a double to left field while Grace Taylor (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) also pushed two runs across the plate on a single up the middle.
 
Mesich went 3-for-4 with five RBIs against the Ravens while Yothers went 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
 
Taylor earned the win in the second game. She allowed six hits through six innings.
 
Thiel will continue play in The Spring Games on Friday. The Tomcats will face the Roanoke Maroons at 11:45 a.m. and the Sage Gators at 2 p.m.