After scoring 27 runs the night before, the Slippery Rock softball team’s bats cooled off Friday afternoon en route to a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Mercyhurst Lakers.
The Rock lost a six-run lead in game one and eventually lost to Mercyhurst 7-6 in 10 innings.
Sophomore Brooke Dawson (6-7, 3.15 ERA) started in game one and went six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits.
SRU had built up a 6-0 lead heading into the sixth inning, thanks in part to two RBI each from seniors Stacey Herzog and Caitlin Baxter, when Dawson gave up three hits, two walks and four runs to make the score 6-4.
Sophomore Paige Flore (3-4, 5.74 ERA) came on in relief of Dawson in the seventh inning and gave up two more runs on a home run to tie the game at six and send the game into extra innings. Flore pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings before allowing two straight hits to start the 10th inning at which point junior Carly DeRose (7-5, 2.88 ERA) came into the game and committed an error on the first batter she faced, allowing the winning Mercyhurst run to score.
Flore was tagged with the loss, pitching three complete innings and giving up three runs (two earned). Sophomore Emily Nagle and senior Ashley Samluk both finished with three hits and Nagle also scored three runs.
Game two was not as close, as Mercyhurst won 12-3 in a shortened six-inning game. Flore and DeRose both pitched in game two and each gave up six runs.
Senior Katie Kaiser was the lone bright spot for the offense in game two, hitting a home run and a double while driving in two RBI and scoring two runs.
The Rock continues its weekend road trip tomorrow with a doubleheader at Seton Hill University starting at 1 p.m.
