NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (April 29) - The Saint Vincent softball team closed the regular season with a pair of road losses to Westminster College in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.
The host Titans took game one by a 6-3 margin before adding a 6-0 victory in game two to complete the sweep.
After three scoreless innings in the opener, Saint Vincent broke through when
Emily Duerr cleared the bases with a three-run double to put the Bearcats in front with a 3-0 lead. However, the Titans responded immediately by scoring four runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 4-3 advantage.
Westminster followed up with two runs in the fifth inning to extend the its edge to 6-3. The Titans held the Bearcats off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh innings to close out the victory.
Kelsey Hunter,
Victoria Culver and
Kelly Flaherty each added a hit for Saint Vincent.
Erica Smiley suffered the loss in the circle, allowing six runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. The freshman struck out two and walked three. Jazmyn Rohrer tossed a complete game for the Titans, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits. Rohrer struck out 14 Bearcats.
Westminster tallied single runs in the first and second innings of game two to build an early 2-0 lead. The Titans would tack on two runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth inning to round out the scoring.
Lauren Miller led the Bearcats with a 3-for-3 performance in game two.
Ashley Brady added a pinch hit double off the bench for the Bearcats.
Riley Assalone suffered the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work. That drops Assalone's record to 8-2 for her freshman season.
Saint Vincent finishes the regular season with a 21-8 overall record and a 12-5 mark in league play. Westminster moves to 25-7 overall and 16-2 in PAC games.
The two teams will now shift their focus to the upcoming PAC Softball Championship Tournament, where the Bearcats and Titans will open against one another.
Second-seeded Westminster (25-7, 16-2) and third-seeded Saint Vincent (21-8, 12-5) will get things going on Friday, May 4 at 10 a.m. Top-seeded Thomas More (27-13, 17-1) and fourth-seeded Bethany College (17-16, 9-8) will match up in the second opening-round game at 12 p.m.
The losers of Friday's opening-round matchups will meet in elimination Game C at 2 p.m., followed by the winners of the two opening-round games facing off at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, the winner of Game C will meet the loser of Game D in an elimination game at 11 a.m. for the right to play for the conference title against the Game D winner at 1 p.m. If both teams have one loss at that point, the "if necessary" game is scheduled for 3 p.m.
This marks the fourth straight season that the Bearcats have qualified for the PAC Championship Tournament, which included a PAC Championship season in 2016.
