WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 8) – The Waynesburg University softball team hosted Washington & Jefferson on Saturday for an Easter Eve Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets got a pair of outstanding pitching performances and provided plenty of offensive support as they swept the Presidents by the scores of 9-1 (six innings) and 6-0.
Freshman
Autumn Stemple (Morgantown, W.Va. / University) got the ball for game one and allowed a run on three hits, all singles, and one walk. Stemple recorded four strikeouts as she improved to 7-1 on the season.
Waynesburg (17-3, 8-0) picked up all the offense it needed in the opener thanks to a four-run first inning. Sophomore
Grace Higgins (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) got things rolling with an RBI triple and came around to score off a sacrifice fly by junior
Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston). The next batter was senior
Reghan Benschoter (Newark, Ohio / Granville), who continued her hot hitting by plating senior
Brin Hunter (West Alexander, Pa. / McGuffey) with a single.
Benschoter closed out the scoring in the frame by sprinting home on an error during a botched pickoff throw by the W&J catcher.
After a scoreless second inning, the home team doubled its advantage in the bottom of the third.
Junior
Kayla Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) singled home freshman
Kassidy Trimble (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) and junior
Sydney Senay (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) to make the score 6-0. Gratton scored a run of her own thanks to an RBI single by sophomore
Dilyn Roberts (Sellersburg, Ind. / Henryville). The hits kept coming for Waynesburg, as freshman Jasmine Desmaske (Waynesburg, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan) drove in Roberts with a single of her own.
After W&J (7-13, 1-7) tallied its lone run of the day in the fourth, Waynesburg closed things out in the sixth when Hunter singled home Demaske.
Eight different Waynesburg players combined for 10 hits in game one. Demaske and Higgins logged a pair of knocks each. Eight different Yellow Jackets scored at least one run each, with Demaske crossing base twice. Continuing the theme of offensive balance, seven different Jackets posted an RBI each.
Game two belonged to sophomore
Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay-Battelle), who tossed her fourth-straight complete-game shutout in her last four starts. Wilson allowed just two singles, didn't walk a batter and hit one, while logging five strikeouts. She's now 9-2 overall with a 1.08 ERA. Against conference opposition, Wilson is 5-0 with a microscopic 0.22 ERA.
The Jackets gave Wilson all the support she needed in the bottom of the first when Brookman teed off on her first homerun of the season. She drove in herself and Hunter to put the host squad up 2-0.
Hunter and Brookman drove in two more runs each to give Wilson plenty of insurance.
Demaske, Higgins, Hunter and Benschoter recorded two hits each in the late contest to make up the bulk of Waynesburg's nine base hits.
On Tuesday, Waynesburg plays its final scheduled games outside of the PAC when it welcomes Denison to town for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
