CLERMONT, Fla. (Feb. 26) – The Waynesburg University softball team opened its 2017 schedule on Sunday at The Spring Games in Clermont, Florida. The Yellow Jackets rolled to a season-opening 8-1 win against St. Mary's (Minnesota), before dropping a 6-2 final score against York (Pa.).
Game one saw the Yellow Jackets (1-1) combine a balanced offensive attack with solid pitching from sophomore
Courtney Messenger. Seven different Jackets notched at least one hit in the team's eight-base knock attack.
Waynesburg got off to a fast start thanks to a three-run first inning. That 3-0 advantage grew to 7-0 with a four-run bottom of the fourth. St. Mary's (0-1) notched its only score in the top of the fifth, but the Orange and Black answered with the game's final run in the bottom of the sixth.
Senior
Lyndi Gareis boasted the only multi-hit performance from either team, going two-for-three with an RBI and a run scored. Freshman
Ashley Dubovich singled and drove in a game-high two runs. Eight different Yellow Jackets scored a run each in the victory.
Messenger (1-0), who earned second-team All-PAC laurels as a freshman, picked up right where she left off with a five-hit, complete-game effort. She struck out four Cardinals and didn't walk a batter.
Game two saw York (2-2) take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a dropped fly ball. Waynesburg got one of those runs back in the top of the second, when freshman
Cheyenne Wasko grounded out to second base, driving in sophomore first baseman
Alex Lawrence.
The Spartans reestablished a two-run advantage with a tally in the bottom of the fourth, but Waynesburg answered again in the top of the sixth. Lawrence drove in her team's second run of the late contest, which was scored by freshman
Rachel Skon. Unfortunately, York put the game out of reach with a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth.
Lawrence went two-for-three in game two with a double and a run scored. Freshman
Courtney Syfert recorded Waynesburg's first triple of the young season.
Sophomore Cat Allstat suffered the loss after giving up six runs, four of which were earned, on 13 hits and a walk. Allstat piled up eight strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work. Gareis struck out the final York batter of the game for her only batter faced.
Waynesburg plays two early games on Monday. The Jackets face Adrian at 9 a.m., before squaring off with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. First pitch of the late game is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
