Slippery Rock softball continued its start to the season by picking up two more wins at the Snowbird Freeze Out in South Carolina.
SRU came away with a 1-0 win in game one as junior Carly DeRose pitched a four-hit shutout, keeping LeMoyne College off the scoreboard. DeRose picked up her second win of the short season.
“This past weekend is a preview of what our team is capable of when competing with our conference,” DeRose said. “It was amazing to play alongside and watch Rock softball play together, because it shows what the team is capable of. We handled the competition well and we were never ‘out’ of a game. I believe that our style of play is going to carry over to PSAC play, and will ultimately earn us a playoff spot.”
Offensively, Slippery Rock’s only run came in the sixth inning. Junior Caitlin Baxter singled, scoring sophomore Emily Nagle.
Game two featured Slippery Rock taking on Mansfield University with SRU coming away with a 4-1 victory. On the mound for The Rock was sophomore Brooke Dawson.
Dawson struck out six and held Mansfield to just one run on the day. She wound up getting her second win of the season.
The Slippery Rock offense picked up a bit in the second game and wound up scoring four runs in game two. Slippery Rock saw contributions on offense from sophomore McKenzie Garland, senior Stacey Herzog, Nagle and senior Megan Maloney. Each player came away with at least one hit.
In the third inning, Maloney singled down the line to score sophomore McKenzie Garland. Senior Ashley Samluk also drove a run in the third inning when she grounded out to shortstop scoring senior Katie Kaiser. Slippery Rock picked up two more runs in the fourth inning but both were unearned.
Both wins improve SRU’s overall record to 4-1 after its opening weekend of play.
“It gives us a cushion. It’s nice to win early on in the season,” Rock head coach Stacey Rice said. “It’s a great way to start off, however we definitely do not want to get too comfortable.”
Slippery Rock will take a couple weeks off before playing again and will head to Clermont, Fla. for the NTC Tournament. Its first game of the tournament will be against the University of Charleston at 1 p.m. on March 5.
