NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (May 5) – Coming off a thrilling 1-0 win to open their run in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) tournament, the Waynesburg University softball team was looking for a little less drama when they faced off with the top seed from Westminster this afternoon. The Yellow Jackets got their wish and advanced to their second-straight conference title game by downing the host Titans 9-2.
 
Waynesburg (28-8) scratched out two hits and rode freshman Autumn Stemple's (Morgantown, W.Va. / University) historic no-hitter in a hard-fought victory over Allegheny on Friday morning. The Jackets completely flipped the script against the Titans (28-12) by cranking out 18 base hits. To put the offensive output into perspective, there were only 10 combined runs scored over the first three games of the day.
 
The Jackets wasted little time in taking control of the contest in the top of the first inning. Freshman Bella DeMark (Carnegie, Pa. / Bishop Canevin) kicked off a massive game with a single and moved to third on a double by sophomore Grace Higgins (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan). Senior Brin Hunter followed with a sacrifice fly to make the score 1-0. Waynesburg's cleanup hitter, junior Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) logged her team's third hit in four at-bats to bring Higgins home and double the Jacket advantage to 2-0.
 
Westminster picked up its first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but the Jackets got it back in the next half-inning thanks to back-to-back doubles by Hunter and Brookman.
 
The visiting team maintained its two-run advantage until the top of the sixth, when it blew the game open in the sixth. Freshman Kassidy Trimble (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) led off with a single. Westminster picked up a pair of outs following the base knock, but DeMark struck again, this time with an RBI double. After Higgins singled in DeMark and Hunter walked, Brookman made the score 6-1 with a run-scoring single.
 
That hit forced a Westminster pitching change that preceded the final out of the inning.
 
The Titans scored their final run on a lead-off solo homerun in the bottom of the sixth. That was as close as the host squad came to staging a comeback.
 
Already leading 6-2, sophomore pitcher Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay-Battelle), who was the biggest benefactor of the Jackets' offensive outburst, led off the seventh with a single. Freshman Jasmine Demaske (Waynesburg, Pa. / Jeferson-Morgan) followed with a single of her own and junior Kayla Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) picked up an RBI of her own to put her team up 7-2.
 
DeMark continued to terrorize the top-seeded Titans by singling in Demaske, before Higgins connected on an RBI groundout that sent Gratton home with the game's final tally.
 
After driving in run number seven, Higgins put the final touches on the win by converting three-straight groundouts to give Waynesburg its third-straight playoff win at Westminster reaching back to last year's title run.
 
Every member of Waynesburg's starting lineup gathered at least one hit each Friday evening, including DeMark, who had arguably her biggest day at the plate as a Yellow Jacket. She went four-for-five with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. She ended the day with five base hits over the two victories.
 
Like so many members of the Jacket lineup Brookman bounced back from a hitless showing against Allegheny with a big showing against the Titans. She went three-for-four with a double and a tournament-high three RBIs.
 
Higgins, junior Sydney Senay (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan), Wilson and Gratton all posted two-hit efforts at the plate.
 
Wilson improved to 16-4 on the season after allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks. The standout southpaw struck out a pair of Westminster hitters.
 
The victory, which broke last year's single-season record of 27, pushed Waynesburg into tomorrow's Game H of the tournament. The Yellow Jackets will face the winner of Westminster and Geneva. Thanks to their 2-0 start in the double-elimination event, Waynesburg will have two chances to take home their second-straight title. Should they lose Game H, that would force a winner-take-all affair in Game I.
 
The Titans and Golden Tornadoes are scheduled to square off at 11 a.m. Waynesburg will hit the field at 1 p.m.