LATROBE, Pa. (May 4)- The Saint Vincent softball team locked up a trip to Westminster for a spot in the President's Athletic Conference semifinals with a 10-2 victory over No. 5 seed Grove City in the PAC Championship Tournament play-in round.
Abbey Ginter's big day offensively led the way for the Bearcats (22-8), as she was 2-3 with two three run homers and a career best six RBI's.
The Bearcats as a team had a big day offensively, scoring 10 runs on 14 hits with 10 total RBI's.
Olivia Persin was strong at the top of the lineup for the Bearcats 3-4 with two singles and a double, while also scoring three runs.
Jessica LaPorte,
Alexandra Dillner and
Leah Yoder all added two hits, while LaPorte drove in two RBIs and scored two runs. Dillner and Yoder also had RBIs.
Olivia Bushore picked up the complete-game win in the circle for Saint Vincent, giving up two runs on five hits, while striking out five Wolverines.
Grove City got off to a fast start scoring, as Hannah Dietz hit a two-run home run to right field, scoring Maci Linhart to give the Wolverines an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.
From that point on, the Bearcats never looked back. In the bottom of the first, after an out to start the inning, LaPorte singled to center, Dillner reached on an error and then Ginter launched her first long ball of the afternoon to give the Bearcats a 3-2 lead.
After Grove City went down in order in the top of the second, Saint Vincent added on in the bottom half. With two outs,
Mary Maceda singled to right field, before a Persin double put runners at second and third. LaPorte would drive them both home with a single to increase the lead to 5-2.
Following two more scoreless innings from Bushore, the Bearcats again caught fire offensively in the bottom of the fourth. After Persin singled and LaPorte reached on an error, Ginter hit her second three-run homer of the game to left center, increasing the Saint Vincent lead to 8-2.
Saint Vincent was not done in the inning.
Katelyn Stokan followed Ginter's homer with a double and a couple batters later, Yoder, roped an RBI single down the right field line, scoring Stokan, to make it 9-2 in favor of the Bearcats heading into the fifth.
In the fifth inning, the Wolverines went down quietly in the top of the inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Persin had a single and later scored on an RBI single by Dillner, winning the game for the Bearcats 10-2 as the eight-run mercy rule came into effect.
The Bearcats will now travel to top-seeded Westminster College on Thursday, May 4, to open the PAC semis. Saint Vincent will play the host Titans at noon, followed by a second game against either the winner or loser of the day's first game between No. 2 seed Waynesburg University and No. 3 Bethany College.
