WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 29) – The Waynesburg University softball team hosted Westminster for a high stakes Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader on Saturday. The top two teams in the league battled over 14 innings and after splitting the twin bill, the final pieces of the PAC playoff puzzle were put into place.
 
Behind ace sophomore pitcher Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay-Battelle), the Yellow Jackets (26-8, 15-5) dominated the Titans (27-11, 16-4) to the tune of a 6-0 victory. Westminster rebounded in game two to take a 3-0 lead and hold on for a 3-1 triumph. With the split, the visitors locked down the top seed in the PAC tournament, while the Jackets will enter as the two seed.
 
Wilson logged her seventh complete-game shutout of the 2023 season after blanking the Titans on four singles and one walk. While only picking up three strikeouts, the sophomore southpaw induced an impressive 16 groundouts to just two flyouts. She ends the regular season as the conference leader in ERA (1.24), opposing batting average (.191), innings pitched (124) and wins (15-4). She also gave up the third-fewest runs allowed (32) and the fewest earned runs allowed (22), despite the heavy workload.
 
Waynesburg got all the offense it needed in the opener when junior Sydney Senay (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) produced a two-run double that sent senior Brin Hunter (West Alexander, Pa. / McGuffey) and sophomore Grace Higgins (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) sprinting home to make the score 2-0.
 
The Jackets upped their advantage to 4-0 in the third when Higgins doubled in freshman Jasmine Demaske (Waynesburg, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan). Higgins later came into score when junior Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
Waynesburg pieced together its final two runs of the contest in the sixth when freshman Kassidy Trimble (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) scored on an error and junior Kayla Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) sprinted home on an RBI groundout from Higgins.
 
Wilson was particularly impressive down the stretch of the opener, as she and her defense combined to retire the final 11 Westminster batters of the game.
 
Waynesburg outhit Westminster 9-4 in the win. Higgins continued her stellar season at the plate by going two-for-four with two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. Hunter also went two-for-four with a stolen base and a run scored.
 
Game two started with a pair of scoreless innings. Westminster scored its first run of the day in the top of the third. The visitors added an insurance tally in the fourth and another in the fifth to take a 3-0 advantage heading into the sixth.
 
Waynesburg was finally able to get its bats going in the bottom of the sixth when Hunter doubled in Higgins to cut her team's deficit to 3-1. After retiring the Titans in order in the top of the seventh, freshman Alyssa Rager (Washington, Pa. / Trinity) singled to lead off the inning, putting the tying run at the plate. Unfortunately, the Jackets were unable to come any closer to completing their comeback try.
 
Five different Waynesburg players logged one hit each in game two. Freshman Autumn Stemple (Morgantown, W.Va. / University) got the start in the circle and suffered the loss after allowing all three runs on six hits, no walks and five strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work. Wilson returned to work the final 2.2 innings in relief.
 
The PAC playoffs get underway on Monday, May 1, with Geneva hosting Saint Vincent and Grove City in five vs. six contest featuring the latter two participants. The winner of that game will face the host Golden Tornadoes later in the day. The survivor of that first day of play travels to Westminster on Friday May 5. The second-seeded Jackets are scheduled to open Friday's slate of games by battling third-seeded Allegheny.
 
The Jackets swept a tightly contested doubleheader with Allegheny back on Tuesday, April 25.
 
Four playoff games are scheduled to be played on Friday, and at least two more are scheduled for Saturday, May 6. To keep track of the PAC tournament, click here.