ERIE, Pa. – For the second straight season, Penn State Behrend split a non-conference softball doubleheader with Grove City. The Wolverines won the opener 7-6 and the Lions took game two, 6-3, on Thursday afternoon on the Behrend diamond.
In game one, Grove City (11-9) broke open a 2-all game with five runs in the fifth inning and hold on for the one-run victory. The Lions broke the Wolverines nine-game winning streak in the nightcap, scoring four runs in the third and adding two insurance runs in the sixth.
Kelsey Fuller (Albion, PA/Northwestern) earned her fifth win on the mound, giving up just six hits and three runs. Leah Griffin (Springboro, PA/Conneaut Valley), Spryce York (Rixford, PA/Otto Eldred) and Sydney Sherrieb (Washington, PA/Trinity) each tallied two hits in the win.
After facing a 2-0 deficit in game two, Griffin started started off the come-back inning with a double and then scored on York's single to center field. Sherrieb made her first hit a double to right field to put runners on first and third. Fuller walked and Ashley Gruber (Burton, OH/Berkshire) in a line drive into center field to knock in York and Sherrieb. On the second out of the inning, Fuller crossed home to help the Lions take a 4-2 lead after three.
Behrend had four hits and scored two more runs in the sixth, before the Wolverines tacked one on in the top of the seventh for the final 6-3 margin. Grove City left 10 runners stranded, while starter Faith Jentsch got the loss on eight hits and six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings pitched.
The Wolverines smacked five of their 10 hits in game two to take a 7-2 lead with five runs in the fifth inning. The Lions cut the lead to 7-5 with three runs in the sixth, behind a double by Callie Markovitch (Edinboro, PA/Northwestern) and single by Kayla Miller (Springboro, PA/Conneaut Valley). In the bottom of the seventh, Fuller scored on Amy Greene's (Erie, PA/Strong Vincent) hit to center field with two outs but Grove City was able get the final out on a pop-up to second base.
Markovitch finished with three hits and Greene had two hits, including a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to knot the game at 2-all.
Behrend returns to action on Saturday against Mt. Aloysius. The AMCC doubleheader begins at 1 p.m.
