MUNHALL, Pa. (March 25) – After ending up on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel in game one of a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader at Chatham, the Saint Vincent softball team bounced back to top the Cougars, 6-3, in the nightcap to earn the split.
In game one, starter Kylie Meek went the distance and allowed only two hits in a hard-luck, 3-2 loss, while the nightcap saw the Bearcats jump out to an early 2-0 lead and never look back, en route to a 6-3 victory.
GAME ONE: Chatham 3, Saint Vincent 2
After Saint Vincent stranded a pair of baserunners in the top of the first, the Cougars answered by manufacturing a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, using two walks, a sacrifice bunt and an infield single to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.
The Bearcats evened the score in the top of the second.
Lily Rush led off by sneaking a double inside the third base bag, before
Nicolette Kloes followed suit with another two-base hit to the left field corner to make it 1-0. A ground ball through the box by
Jessica LaPorte was misplayed, putting runners at the corners, and
Alex Dillner would then follow with a sacrifice fly to shallow center field to plate Kloes with the game-tying run.
Chatham countered by manufacturing the go-ahead run in the bottom of the third, using two walks, a stolen base and an RBI groundout to take a 3-2 lead.
The Cougars' third inning run proved to be the game-winner, as Meek and Chatham starter Victoria Murren would take charge over the game's final four frames. Meek allowed only two baserunners, by way of a walk and an error, the rest of the way, while Murren limited SVC to just two hits over her final four innings pitched.
For the game, Meek surrendered just two Chatham hits, while walking five and striking out four in the hard-luck, complete-game loss.
LaPorte went 2-for-3 for SVC at the plate, while Kloes, Dillner,
Allie Prady,
Leah Yoder and
Lily Rush each had one hit apiece.
Murren earned the complete game win for Chatham, allowing two runs on sven hits with seven strikeouts.
GAME TWO: Saint Vincent 6, Chatham 3
After being held in check for the duration of the opener, the Saint Vincent bats quickly awoke to begin game two.
Olivia Persin opened the game with a single and advanced to second on an error, before Kloes singled to put runners at the corners with no outs. After Kloes stole third, LaPorte cracked a single to right field to plate both runners and give SVC an early 2-0 lead.
Chatham promptly cut the deficit in half, using two singles and two bunts in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1, but Saint Vincent got the run right back in the top of the second. With two outs, Rush doubled to left and after a pitching change, Persin plated her teammate with another two-bagger in the right-center gap to give SVC a 3-1 lead.
The Cougars again used small ball to cut into the SVC lead in the bottom of the third, plating their second run of the game by using an infield single, two bunts and another single.
Saint Vincent would then break the game open in the top of the third. With one out, Dillner singled, before
Allie Prady drew a walk. Bearcat starting pitcher
Haley Bicko would then help her cause by clearing the bases with a triple to the right-center gap to make it 5-1, before she scored on an RBI groundout by
Leah Yoder to extend the lead to 6-2.
After Bicko retired the side in both the third and fourth innings, Chatham looked poised for a big inning in the bottom of the fifth. The Cougars used two errors and a single to cut the gap to 6-3, but the SVC defense would limit the damage. On a one-out Chatham single, the Bearcats executed a perfect rundown to cut down the lead runner at third base, before the inning would end with catcher
Katelyn Stokan gunning down a potential base thief at third.
Aided by a 5-4-3 double play to end the sixth inning, Bicko closed out the complete game win by facing the minimum over the final two frames.
Seven different Bearcats tallied at least one hit and eight reached base safely in the win, led by Persin's 2-for-4 effort. Kloes, LaPorte, Dillner, Bicko, Lampe and Rush all added hits, while Prady drew a pair of walks and scored a run.
Bicko improved to 3-1 in the circle by allowing three runs (one earned) on seen hits with just one walk.
The Bearcats are now scheduled to return to PAC play on Tuesday, March 28, hosting Franciscan University in a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader in Latrobe.
