GROVE CITY, Pa. (May 3) -- The No. 6 Thiel College Softball teams season came to an end on day three of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon as the Tomcats were dropped by No. 3 Geneva College 10-6 in Game H from College Field on the campus of Grove City College.
The Tomcats conclude the season 18-18. The Blue and Gold's 18 wins are the most since 2019 when they amassed 19. Thiel was picked to finish 10th in the PAC Preseason Coaches Poll, but were 1 of the last 4 teams standing in the end. The Golden Tornadoes improve to 30-12 and advance to Game I, the losers bracket final, against top seed Grove City Monday at 1 p.m.
Geneva took a 1-0 lead into the second as
Mackenzie Herman (Greenville, Pa./Reynolds) knocked an infield hit to tie things at 1. After
Kylie Heid (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) drew a walk,
Alaina Fedder (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area) smacked a 2-run single through the left side to put Thiel ahead 3-1. Geneva answered with 2 in the bottom of the frame to even things at 3.
The back-and-forth battle continued as Thiel forged ahead 5-3 in the third on a Heid RBI double off the top of the center-field wall and Fedder lobed a run-scoring single to left. Again, the GT's responded with 2 in the bottom of the frame to deadlock things at 5.
Heid finished 1-for-2 with 2 runs, two walks and a RBI. Fedder went 2-for-3 with a trio of RBIs. Herman was 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run.
Geneva chased starter
Becca Landis (Kinsman, Ohio/Mathews) in the third and Fedder took the circle. The GT's went on to plate 2 in the fourth and 3 in the fifth to pull ahead 10-5.
Thiel fought back in the sixth as
Dani Ficeti (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) cracked a run-scoring single to make it 10-6. The Tomcats brought the tying run to the plate in the next AB with Herman but were unable to make any noise.
Ficeti concluded her Thiel career with a 2-for-4 showing to go with 2 runs and a RBI.
Landis rentered in the circle and worked a clean sixth while the Thiel bats went quietly in the seventh to spell the 10-6 final.
Landis totaled 3.1 innings for the day and struck out two. She concludes her career as the programs single-season strikeout record holder with 155 while her 216 career K's are fifth most in team history. She also holds the lowest career ERA (2.34) in Thiel history.
Fedder logged 2.2 innings and surrendered 5 runs (2 earned) to take the loss and fall to 1-6.
Thiel outhit Geneva 10-9 but tallied four errors to the GT's one.
