Rock softball was able to end their five games losing streak with a doubleheader split against Mercyhurst (5-19) University on Wednesday.
The Rock’s last win before Wednesday came a little under four weeks ago due to weather cancelations against Bemidji State University (13-15) during their spring break tournament in Florida. Currently, the Green and White sit with a 14-13 overall record, and a 1-3 record in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play, which lands them in fifth place in the PSAC West.
In game one, The Rock could not find their bats, as they managed just three hits the entire game, but junior infielder Megan Brown was able to get one of the hits, extending her game hitting streak to nine.
Brown went two for three in the game, while senior outfielder Emily Nagle went one for three. Nagle has been the most consistent batter for the Green and White this season, as she has gotten a hit in 24 out of 27 games played so far this season, including an 11 game hit streak.
Mercyhurst scored two runs early in the first inning, while adding insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to wrap up a 4-0 shutout by Lakers junior pitcher Tori Pierucci who was able to retire seven Rock batters.
Freshman pitcher Cami Shumaker took the loss for The Rock pitching four innings while surrendering three runs on four hits, while senior pitcher Brooke Dawson finished the game allowing one run off of three hits.
Game Two told a different story for The Rock, as they scored seven runs, including three home runs from freshman utility player Becca Roesch, freshman catcher Leah Vith, and senior utility player McKenzie Garland.
The scoring began in the second inning when Roesch hit the first home run, to also bring in senior catcher Lauren Hawley for The Rock to take a 2-0 lead. In the top of the third, Nagle and Brown singled, while Hawley also singled to bring in Nagle. Roesch then was able to drive in Brown off a sacrifice fly to extend their lead to 4-0.
Mercyhurst was then able to respond with a run of their own in the bottom of the third, but The Rock responded in the fourth when Garland lead off the inning with a solo home run to get their lead back to four runs at 5-1.
Then in the bottom of the fourth, the Lakers cut The Rock’s lead to two off of an RBI single and double to make the score 5-3. No more runs were scored until the seventh inning when Vith hit a solo homer, followed by an RBI single by junior infielder Kailey Myers to make the score 7-3.
The Lakers responded with one run in the seventh, but it was not enough as The Rock went on to win game two 7-4. Senior pitcher Paige Flore earned the win for the Green and White as she pitched five innings allowing three runs off six hits, while striking out three batters.
Up next for The Rock comes a doubleheader with Seton Hill University (12-10) at home on Friday with the first game scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The Griffins currently are in third place in the PSAC West.
