The Slippery Rock University softball team traveled to Edinboro University to take on the Fighting Scots in a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) match-ups.
The team was unable to claim victory in game one, losing with a final score of 3-2. The Rock came back in game two however, handing Edinboro their own 3-2 loss.
In game one, Slippery Rock took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by senior third basemen Caitlin Baxter that scored junior center fielder Emily Nagle. The Fighting Scots would come back in the fourth inning, however, and would score all three of their runs that would lead them to victory. Edinboro scored their first run off of a wild pitch by The Rock’s senior starting pitcher Carly DeRose. They would score their second run when Edinboro’s Olivia Jankowski stole home to give the Fighting Scots the 2-1 lead. The third and final run for Edinboro came off of a Slippery Rock fielding error that increased the deficit to two runs going into the fourth inning.
The Rock would not go down without a fight. In the top of the sixth inning, sophomore shortstop Kailey Myers doubled to right field, which put the go-ahead-run on deck for the Green and White. Sophomore Hannah Nestor hit a single to the shortstop that scored sophomore Caitlyn MacKelvey, the pinch runner for Myers, thus cutting Edinboro’s lead to one.
Slippery Rock would not be able to do any more damage to Edinboro, as they went on to lose 3-2.
DeRose took the loss for The Rock, her eighth of the season. DeRose pitched 4.1 innings while allowing just two hits and striking out six. Junior Paige Flore would come on in relief, pitching 1.2 innings while also only giving up two hits.
In game two, The Rock, led by junior pitcher Brooke Dawson, would come out with a 3-2 win in eight innings.
In the third inning, Baxter would again score Nagle on an RBI single to give Slippery Rock another early 1-0 lead. The Fighting Scots came back with a run of their own in the fourth inning off another error by Slippery Rock. Junior catcher Lauren Hawley scored sophomore Megan Brown on a double to left field. Edinboro would again tie the game up off another fielding error by The Rock to even the game up 2-2.
With two outs and Myers on second in the top of the eighth inning, junior first basemen Allie Fischer doubled to right-center field to give SRU a 3-2 lead late. Dawson would handle the Fighting Scots in the bottom half of the eights with ease, forcing two groundouts and a fly out. Dawson would finish the day with five hits and five strikeouts while walking one batter in eight innings pitched.
