Penn State Behrend Lions Softball Walks Away With Split Against La Roche

The Penn State Behrend Lions walked away with a split against the La Roche Redhawks on Thursday, April 29.  With these games being very crucial, the blue and white were victorious in the first game by a score of 6-1, but fell in the second by a final of 9-8.

In game one, the Redhawks were threatening from the start as they had runners on second and third with only one out.  Behrend starter Emma Hahn(Smethport/Smethport) then got a comebacker to her which she threw to first for one out and then Maddie Wieser (Erie/Collegiate Academy) got the runner out trying to take home on a beautiful throw and tag by catcher Amy Greene (Erie/Strong Vincent).  Behrend would get on the board first as Mary DeMino(Wexford/North Allegheny) reached on a base hit and teammate Morgan Griffin(Springboro/Conneaut Valley) would plate her with a base hit of her own.  The third inning would be much of the same as DeMino would reach on another hit and Griffin would knock her in with another RBI single to make it 2-0 in favor of the Behrend Lions.

The blue and white would tack on one more in the fourth on an RBI single by Beth Chidester (Wexford/North Allegheny) to make it 3-0.  Ashley Gruber (Burton, Oh./Berkshire) would provide yet another big hit for the Behrend Lions on an RBI triple to right field that plated another run to make the score 4-0 Behrend at that point.  La Roche would get on the board in the sixth with one run but Hahn would make sure that was all they would get as the blue and white came out with a 6-1 victory.  Griffin would end up going 4-4 on the day and Hahn would register her 10th complete game of the season.

Game two saw both teams getting on the board early as the Redhawks would put two up on the board in the top of the first.  Behrend would answer right back with two of their own as DeMino would lead off with a triple and an RBI single by Chidester would make the game 2-1.  Wieser would provide an RBI double to knot the game up at two.  DeMino would continue her great day with another RBI double in the second to put the Behrend Lions up by one at 3-2.  Gruber would provide a blast in the third as she sent a ball that hit off the top of the wall in left field and scored all three Behrend runners on base and put the game at 6-2 in favor of the blue and white.  The La Roche fifth inning was the deciding factor, however, as they put up seven runs on eight hits and take a 9-6 lead which they wouldn't give up.  The blue and white clawed for two more runs in the sixth, but it was not enough as the Redhawks escaped with a 9-8 win.

With the split, the Behrend Lions are now 17-19 overall and 8-10 in the AMCC.  The Redhawks are now 16-13 overall and 8-10 in the conference.  Behrend will host the Frostburg State Bobcats on Saturday, May 1 in their last series of the regular season.