Softball Swept in Doubleheader at Franciscan

Softball Swept in Doubleheader at Franciscan

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Penn State Altoona softball was handed a pair of losses in Wednesday afternoon's doubleheader at Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Franciscan University, losing game one 5-3 and game two 6-0.

The Lady Lions (10-12, 1-5 AMCC) struggled to find consistency with the bats and in the circle, suffering their fourth and fifth conference losses of the season.

Game One: Franciscan 5, Penn State Altoona 3

Franciscan (15-8, 5-5 AMCC) took a lead early in the game and was able to maintain it through the rest of the contest.

Four Lady Lions finished with a two-hit game. Jayde Burge (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in, and Jessica Willits (Jersey Shore, PA/Jersey Shore) was also 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Olivia Miller (West Newton, PA/Yough) was 2-for-4 with a double, and Meghan Marasti (Pittsburgh, PA/Penn-Trafford) went 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

Sarah Gearhart (McVeytown, PA/Mount Union) started in the circle and went three innings, limiting Franciscan to just one earned run. Burge tossed the next three innings in relief, also yielded only one earned run.

Franciscan scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on Kathleen Thompson's run-scoring groundout, but Burge's two-run double to left in the top of the second inning propelling Penn State Altoona in the lead, 2-1.

But the Lady Barons got three runs across in the bottom of the third. Dennise Carrazco scored on an error to tie the score, and an RBI groundout from Rachel Cooper and RBI double from Anna Swierczew put the home team up 4-2.

Franciscan extended its lead to 5-2 in the fifth, when Allyson Weiss led off the home half of the inning with a home run.

Penn State Altoona got a run back in the sixth when Cassidy Stover (Spring Mills, PA/Penns Valley) scored on a wild pitch. But the Lady Lions were unable to get any more runs across, losing game one by two.

Game Two: Franciscan 6, Penn State Altoona 0

The Lady Lions were unable to get the bats going enough to provide any offense, as the team compiled seven hits but scored no runs.

Abby Showers (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) was 2-for-3 with a double, and Burge also hit a double. Alexis Secrest (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) recorded her first collegiate hit.

Brittney Dellaquila (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) pitched 1 2/3 innings in the circle, taking the loss. Gearhart finished the game off, tossing 4 1/3 innings in relief.

Franciscan grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second on a solo home run by Swierczew and a two-run single from Carrazco. Thompson's RBI base hit in the fourth increased the Lady Barons' lead to 4-0.

Weiss' two-run homer in the sixth upped Franciscan's advantage to 6-0.

Penn State Altoona softball returns home for its next games, a doubleheader against AMCC opponent Pitt-Bradford this Saturday, April 13 starting at 1:00 p.m.