BETHANY, W.Va. (April 12) – The Waynesburg University softball team traveled to Bethany on Wednesday afternoon for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets rolled to an 8-0 (six innings) win in game one, before holding off a feisty Bison squad for a 5-2 victory in game two.
 
Sophomore Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay-Battelle) recorded her sixth complete-game shutout of 2023 in game one, but had to overcome some control problems (four walks, two hit batsmen) to do it. Wilson yielded just three singles as she improved her win/loss record to 11-2 on the spring. The second-year south paw racked up six strikeouts over six innings of work.
 
Waynesburg (21-3, 10-0) took firm control of game one by scoring five runs in the top of the first. An error by Bethany (2-19-1, 2-8) during the at-bat of sophomore Grace Higgins (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) turned a single into the game's first score, which was recorded by freshman Jasmine Demaske (Waynesburg, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan). Higgins made the score 2-0 when she sprinted home on an infield single by senior Brin Hunter (West Alexander, Pa. / McGuffey).
 
Junior Sydney Senay (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) logged an RBI single of her own to make the score 3-0, before Wilson helped out her own cause with a run-scoring groundout. Senay crossed home plate to give her team a five-run advantage thanks to a single by freshman Alyssa Rager (Washington, Pa. / Trinity).
 
A second-inning error allowed Waynesburg's sixth run of the contest to come home. Two innings later, Hunter lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Higgins and grew the Jackets' advantage to 7-0.
 
Waynesburg logged the game-winning run in the top of the sixth, when Demaske sprinted home from third on a passed ball.
 
The Jackets out-hit the Bison 9-3 in the opener. Hunter, Higgins and junior Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) posted two base knocks each.
 
Bethany showed that its record doesn't properly reflect its abilities, as it jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. It maintained that advantage until the top of the third, when Higgins singled in junior Kayla Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway).
 
With the score tied 1-1, Demaske was called upon to pinch-hit in the top of the fourth with two runners on the bases. The current PAC Rookie of the Week showed how she earned that honor by launching a three-run homer that wound up being the game-winning hit.
 
A sixth-inning error allowed Waynesburg to move ahead 5-1 in the sixth, but nothing was determined until the final out of the seventh was secured. After the Bison scored to cut their deficit down to 5-2 in the seventh, the host squad put runners on second and third with two outs on the board and the tying run on the plate. Thankfully, Wilson, who entered the game in relief of freshman starting pitcher Autumn Stemple (Morgantown, W.Va. / University), induced a game-ending groundout.
 
Stemple took a no-decision after allowing one run on four hits, two walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings pitched. Wilson improved to 12-2 on the year following 3.1 innings in the circle. She gave up one unearned run on four hits, no walks and three strikeouts.
 
Higgins, Hunter and Gratton logged two hits each, as the Jackets produced 10 base knocks in the victory. Gratton also scored twice.
 
Waynesburg faces perhaps its biggest challenge from a PAC opponent on Saturday, when perennial league contender Geneva comes to town. First pitch for the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.