WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 15) – The Waynesburg University softball team continued its push for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) playoff spot on Wednesday when it played host to Thiel for a doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets swept the Tomcats by the final scores of 5-3 and 8-0 (5 innings).
 
Waynesburg (23-9, 11-5) never trailed on the afternoon and built a 5-0 lead over the first three innings of game one. The Jackets posted the first two runs of the opener when a two-base error by Thiel (9-19, 3-13) allowed a pair of runners to score. RBI base hits by sophomore Rylee Rohbeck (Oakdale, Pa. / South Fayette) and junior Jamie Kelly (Front Royal, Va. / Skyline) in the second made it 4-0 in favor of the home team. Sophomore Tori Foust (Blairsville, Pa. / River Valley) drove in Waynesburg's final run of the opener with an RBI groundout in the third.
 
The Tomcats got on the board with a run in the fifth and tacked on two more in the seventh. However, freshman starting pitcher Morgan Walt (Hunker, Pa. / Hempfield) was able to get the final out of the contest with the tying run at the plate.
 
Walt improved to a team-best 6-0 on the season after tossing her fifth complete game. She allowed three earned runs on eight hits and no walks, while striking out two.
 
Sophomore Meysa Heitmann (Morgantown, W.Va. / University) collected two of the Jackets' six hits, one of which was a double. She also stole a base.
 
Game two again saw the home team jump out to an early advantage, this time scoring three runs in the opening frame. Kelly scored the eventual game-winning run when she was singled in by senior Braylee Corbin (Petersburg, W.Va. / Petersburg). Freshman Lorryn Sepe (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Penn-Trafford) got into the act with a run-scoring single that scored Heitmann, before an RBI groundout from senior Kassidy Trimble (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) allowed Corbin to sprint home.
 
After neither team scored in the second or third, Heitmann singled home junior Brynn Charnesky (Scottdale, Pa. / Southmoreland) to expand the Waynesburg advantage to 4-0 in the fourth. An error brought in the game's fifth run.
 
The Jackets ended the game early in the fifth after sophomore Graeson Grubbs (Volant, Pa. / Wilmington) doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and came in to score on an error. Two battlers later, Rohbeck doubled home Charnesky making the score 7-0. Finally, an RBI single by Kelly allowed Waynesburg to walk off with its fifth-straight victory.
 
Balance was the name of the game for the Waynesburg offense as eight of the nine players in the starting lineup reached base safely via hits. Rohbeck, Kelly and Heitmann logged a pair of knocks each, including a double by Rohbeck, who also stole a base.
 
All that hitting provided more than enough support for freshman Emily Pratt, who moved to 5-2 in the circle after giving up just three singles and three walks over five innings of work. She tied a season high with four strikeouts.
 
The Jackets get back to work on Saturday, April 18, when they travel to Hiram for a PAC doubleheader. First pitch from Ohio is scheduled for 1 p.m.