NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (May 3) – The Waynesburg University softball team needed 20 innings to pick up wins over No. 2 seed Geneva and top-seeded Westminster to force a winner-take-all Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Tournament championship game against top-seeded Westminster on Saturday.
Ella Brookman (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning to deliver the Jackets to a 4-3 win over Allegheny. With Waynesburg trailing 2-1 and down to its final out, Brookman launched a game-tying home run in the seventh.
Trinity Edge (Franklin, Pa. / Franklin) posted seven-straight scoreless innings before a three-run 11th inning lifted Waynesburg to a 5-2 victory in 11 innings.
The Jackets rise to 23-17 on the season.
Game 1 – No. 6 Waynesburg 4, No. 2 Allegheny 3 (9 innings)
Brookman belted a go-ahead triple to score
Bella DeMark in the top of the ninth inning to deliver the Jackets to a 4-3 victory over Allegheny in the elimination bracket final.
Waynesburg built a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Kassidy Trimble (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) and Edge had RBI singles in the second and third innings. Edge added a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.
The Gators tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Allegheny mixed two walks and a wild pitch with three run-scoring hits. With the game tied at three, the Gators two runners on with one out but could not take the lead.
The Jackets put runners on the corners with one away in the seventh but a strikeout and flyout halted the threat. Waynesburg opened the eighth with a single and sacrifice bunt but left a runner left on second.
Edge allowed just one baserunner in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings as the Jackets took the 4-3 win after Brookman's heroics.
Brookman went 3-for-4 with a triple and RBI. Edge drove in a pair and scored once.
Waynesburg used three pitchers in the ballgame. Edge collected the win as she tossed 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs and struck out four in two different stints in the circle.
Autumn Stemple (Morgantown, W.Va. / University) posted two scoreless innings and
Sydney Wilson (Pentress, W.Va. / Clay-Battelle) allowed one unearned run in 1.2 innings.
Game 2 – No. 6 Waynesburg 5, No. 1 Westminster 2 (11 innings)
With Waynesburg trailing 2-1 with two outs in the top of the seventh, Brookman cleared the right-field fence to knot the game at two.
Westminster put two runners on the seventh but came up empty. The Jackets did the same in the top of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Titans smacked a two-out base hit with a runner on second base. The Westminster coach waved the runner home but
Breanna Rice's (Morgantown, W.Va. / Morgantown) throw from the outfield was on the money as
Alyssa Rager (Washington, Pa. / Trinity) applied the tag to end the inning.
Waynesburg finally broke through in the 11th inning.
Grace Higgins (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) reached with a bunt single and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Edge singled through the right side to give the Jackets a 3-2 edge. Trimble followed with a sacrifice fly and Rice tripled home Edge to hand Waynesburg a 5-2 lead.
Westminster brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the home half of the 11th but a groundout to short ended the ballgame.
Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Westminster went ahead 2-1 in the third and held that score until Brookman's home run in the seventh.
Brookman went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
Bella DeMark (Carnegie, Pa. / Bishop Canevin) also had three hits. Higgins scored twice in the contest.
Waynesburg used all three of its pitchers again. Stemple gave up one unearned run in two innings. Edge allowed one earned run in the third before posting seven scoreless frames to earn the win. Wilson notched her fourth save of the year with a scoreless 11th.
Waynesburg and Westminster play for the PAC title for the third-straight year on Saturday at approximately 4:45 p.m.
