BOX SCORE - GAME ONE

BOX SCORE - GAME TWO

PHOTO GALLERY

LATROBE (Apr. 1) - The Bearcats opened up Presidents' Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader split against Thiel, winning the opener 4-2 before dropping the nightcap 10-0.

With the split, the Saint Vincent softball team opens up league play 1-1 and moves to 15-5 on the season. Thiel is now 3-1 in the league and 10-6 this year.

Due to the conference rule that each team must serve as the "home" team during a league doubleheader, the Bearcats were the visitors for the first game and fell behind 1-0 after the Tomcats plated a run in the bottom of the first.

SVC scored a pair of runs in each of the second and third innings to open up a 4-1 lead. Becky Deane was hit by a pitch to lead off the second, but was erased on a fielder's choice by Laken Lyon. A single through the left side by Christina Folino advanced Lyon to second and both runners scored on a double by Marisa McAndrews, as Folino used her blazing speed to score from first base.

In the third, Samantha Emert reached on an error by the second baseman with one out and moved to third on a double by Sarah Swettlen. A Breanne Wallace double, her sixth-consecutive game with a two-bagger, brought home both runs and put SVC ahead, 4-1.

Emert held Thiel to just one unearned run the rest of the way to give the Bearcats the win. She went the distance, scattering five hits and yielding a pair of runs (one earned), with six strike outs and no walks to improve to 6-1 on the year.

Lyon (2-3) and Swettlen (2-4) each recorded multi-hit games, while McAndrews and Wallace each drove in a pair of runs.

In the nightcap, the Bearcats managed just three hits off of Thiel's Amanda Callahan who helped her own cause with a 5-5 showing, including a triple and three runs scored. The guests scored in five of the seven innings, with four in the seventh and three in the fourth to post the 10-0 win.

Ally Vrcek (4-2) suffered the loss, surrendering 11 hits and five earned runs while just striking out one and issuing one free pass. Lyon worked 2.2 innings of effective relief, scattering four hits and a run with two strike outs. Cassidy Uscilowski pitched the final frame and gave up a pair of hits and four runs, but just one earned as the Bearcats committed three errors in the inning.

SVC next hosts a doubleheader on Thursday, Apr. 3 against Mount Aloysius in the final scheduled non-conference outing of the season. The two games are set for a 3 p.m. start.