NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (April 23) -- The Thiel College Softball team dropped a marathon 16-inning game-one affair at reigning Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) champions Westminster College 4-3 Wednesday evening before falling in a five-inning darkness-shortened nightcap 4-1.
Game one was the longest game in terms of innings in the PAC since Grove City and Bethany went 16 innings on May 1, 2021. It was also the longest game innings wise in Thiel history since April 25, 2009, when the Blue and Gold and Bethany went 17 innings.
The Tomcats fall to 14-16 (8-10) while the Titans improve to 24-10 (13-5).
Game 1 -- Thiel 3, Westminster 4 (16 Innings)
Thiel scored the first run of the game in the tenth inning as
Jensen Stehlik (Sagamore Hills, Ohio/Nordonia) knocked a run-scoring single to break the 0-0 stalemate. Westminster answered in the bottom half with a RBI double to knot things at 1. With runners at second and third in the 13th,
Abby Rottman (Hilliards, Pa./Moniteau) delivered a 2-run single up the middle to give Thiel a 3-1 edge. Down to their last out with the bases juiced, the home side tied things at 3 on a single to send it to the 14th. Westminster eventually won it in the 16th on a sacrifice fly to end the 3-and-half-plus hour marathon.
Stehlik finished with a pair of hits and a walk while Rottman had two hits and RBIs each.
Becca Landis (Kinsman, Ohio/Mathews) got the nod in the circle, and, with her strikeout in the seventh inning, broke Amanda Callahan's 2012 single-season program record for strikeouts with her 117th of the year. She rose that total to 121 by games end and is second in the PAC in K's.
Landis cruised through the first nine innings, allowing just four baserunners and K'ing eight. The Titans had runners on the corners with one out in each of the 11th and 12th innings, but Landis escaped unscathed each time.
Landis worked all 15.1 innings and threw 184 pitches, both of which are, as of 2000, program records. They are both also far and away career highs. She posted 11 strikeouts and scattered just five hits.
Game 2 -- Thiel 1, Westminster 4 (5 Innings, game called due to darkness)
Thiel jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first as
Kayley Risser (Reynoldsville, Pa./Dubois Central Catholic) and Rottman singled to set the stage for
Kylie Heid (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley), who roped a run-scoring double into the right-center gap.
Risser, Rottman and Heid each finished with a hit in the game.
Alaina Fedder (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area) got the start in game two and worked a pair of scoreless innings before the home side plated a run on a groundout to knot things at 1. Westminster went on to add 3 in the fourth to lead 4-1. Stehlik worked a walk in the fifth, but was stranded to end the inning, and the game was officially called final due to darkness.
Fedder allowed six hits and 4 runs, 1 of which was earned, and took the loss, falling to 1-5.
Dani Ficetti and
Ava Gilmore (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex Area) each collected hits in the loss.
Looking Ahead
Softball hosts Chatham Saturday for a pair of must-win games to stay alive in the PAC Championship Tournament hunt. The Blue and Gold sit 1.5 games back of Bethany (9-8) for the sixth and final spot in the field. Saturday is Thiel's conference finale as well as senior day with game-one beginning at 1 p.m. from Tomcat Park.
