NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (April 23) – The Waynesburg University softball team traveled north to New Wilmington on Saturday for a highly anticipated showdown with the hottest team in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets, who entered the day ranked second in the PAC, squared off with league-leading Westminster, which was riding a 16-game winning streak. The battle of the conference's top two teams lived up to the billing, as they split the doubleheader.
The Jackets (21-8, 10-4) fell behind 1-0 in the opener, but rallied for four unanswered runs to defeat the Titans (26-3, 13-1) by the final score of 7-2. The Jackets took an early 2-0 lead in game two, but Westminster tied the game up and used three runs in the sixth to take the late contest 5-2.
After Westminster grabbed the lead in the top of the first, sophomore
Emma Bliss (Uniontown, Pa. / Laurel Highlands) provided a productive out with an RBI groundout that tied the contest at 1-1 in the second. With the score still knotted in the third, the Jackets took their first lead when junior
Brin Hunter (West Alexander, Pa. / McGuffey) singled in the go-ahead run. Junior
Reghan Benschoter (Newark, Ohio / Granville) followed two batters later with a clutch two-out, two-run single that wound up providing the game-winning tallies.
After the Titans got a run back in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 4-2, the Jacket bats went back to work in the top of the fifth. After back-to-back hits put a pair of runners on, Hunter came through for her team yet again, this time drilling a two-run single that advanced the Waynesburg lead to 6-2. Sophomore
Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) continued her fantastic season at the dish with a run-scoring single that brought about the eventual final score.
Freshman
Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay Battelle) improved to 13-4 in the circle this season with yet another complete-game victory. She allowed a pair of earned runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out three.
Waynesburg outhit the powerful Titan bats 13-8. Hunter, Benschoter, freshman
Mackenzie Kearns (Elizabeth, Pa. / Elizabeth Forward) and sophomore
Kayla Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) picked up two hits each in the win. Kearns scored twice while batting in the leadoff spot, as did Hunter, who also piled up a game-high three RBIs.
After neither team scored in the first or second innings of game two, Gratton and Kearns both logged RBI singles in top of the third to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. Westminster tied things up by scoring once in the third and once in the fourth. The Titans tallied the game-winning runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Jackets put the game-tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh, but couldn't extend the contest to the bottom of the frame.
The Jackets suffered the loss despite outhitting Westminster 9-8. Hunter and Benschoter led the charge with two hits each.
Waynesburg wraps up an extremely busy week on Sunday, April 24, when it travels to Washington & Jefferson to play two against the Presidents. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
