April 26, 2014
Morris leads Wolverines to sweep of Tomcats
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Grove City College softball team earned its first conference doubleheader sweep of the season by defeating Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Thiel 6-5 and 6-3 on Saturday afternoon at Tomcat Park.
Junior catcher Sarah Morris (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) went 5-for-6 on the day with six RBI and a home run in the first game to lead the Wolverine offense while junior center fielder Caitlyn Vidovic (North Ridgeville, Ohio/Lutheran West) and freshman third baseman Alaina Kunselman (New Bethlehem, Pa./Redbank Valley) each added three hits.
The Wolverines (10-21, 4-12 PAC) rallied with two runs in the seventh to earn the 6-5 win in a back-and-forth game one.
Grove City jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first when junior second baseman Allison Rayburn (New Kensington, Pa./Valley) scored on a Tomcat error, but Thiel (12-22, 5-13 PAC) strung together four hits in the bottom of the second to even the score at 1-1.
Morris's two-run blast over the left field wall in the top of the third put the Wolverines back on top 3-1, but the Tomcats once again answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 3-3.
Thiel would take its first lead of the day with a run in the bottom of the fourth, but this time Grove City would respond, tying the game at 4-4 on an RBI-single by freshman pitcher/first baseman Katie Watts (Sandy Lake, Pa./Lake View) that scored freshman pitcher/first baseman Erika Aughton (Moon Township, Pa./Moon).
The Tomcats would re-take the lead in the bottom of the sixth on an Alana Callahan RBI-single, but Kunselman would answer in the top of the seventh with a two-run single to give Grove City a 6-5 advantage. Aughton would then retire the Thiel side in order to preserve the win.
Aughton scattered 14 hits and five runs while pitching a complete game to earn the victory on the mound.
Batting as the home team in game two, the Wolverines would once again strike first, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning. An Aughton RBI-single scored Rayburn and Aughton would later come home to score on a Morris RBI-single through the left side.
Thiel would cut the Wolverine lead to 2-1 in the top of the third but the Wolverines recovered that run in the bottom of the inning when junior shortstop Kelsey Shirey (Macedonia, Ohio/Nordonia) and Morris hit back-to-back doubles to make it a 3-1 game.
The Tomcats' Madison Cheek would even the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth with a two-run double, but Grove City would answer once again in the bottom of the inning. Morris hit a two-out, two-run single up the middle to score both Aughton and Shirey, and Vidovic followed with a double down the left field line to score Morris and make it a 6-3 game.
Freshman pitcher Aimee Wootton (Weiser, Idaho/Weiser) would take it from there, allowing just one walk in an otherwise clean two innings of relief to earn her first collegiate save.
Watts earned the game two pitching victory for the Wolverines scattering eight hits and three runs over five innings of action.
Grove City returns to Presidents' Athletic Conference action Monday, hosting Chatham at 3:30 p.m.
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