PSNK Softball Split DH VS. Penn College

The Penn State New Kensington softball team traveled to Penn College on Tuesday, April 2^nd. The team lost their first game of the doubleheader in extra innings by a score of 6-5. The PSNK Lady Lions rebounded nicely in the second game with an 8-7 victory.

The first game between the Lady Lions and Wildcats was back and forth. The Wildcats jumped to a 1-0 lead after the bottom of the 1^st. The Lady Lions came out swinging to start the 2^nd inning. Sophomore starting pitcher, Tarra Oravec, led off the inning with a triple. Sophomore Sabrina Johns would follow with an RBI single to score Oravec. The Lions would go on to load the bases with no outs but the Wildcats starting pitcher, Lacy Lose got out of the jam giving up no more runs. The Wildcats would go on to score one in the bottom of the 2^nd to make the score 2-1. But the Lions would continue their hitting ways with a leadoff single by Jessica George and a double by Rachel Lojas the following at bat. With runners on second and third with one out Johns reached on a costly error by Wildcats shortstop allowing both George and Lojas to score for the Lady Lions. The Lady Lions would hold onto a 3-2 lead at the end of 3 innings. The Lady Lions added one more run in the top of the 4^th when George singled in Katie Colbert after she singled and stole second to set herself up in scoring position. The Lady Lions would continue to hold a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 6th.  But the Wildcats would answer with three runs that inning taking a 5-4 lead. The Lady Lions entered the top of the 7^th, their last at bats, down one run. Oravec started the inning off with a leadoff single and stealing second base to set herself up in scoring position to tie the game. Junior Jenna Swank would walk next at bat. With runners on first and second and one out, Junior Sarah Kutchko reached on a fielder's choice when Swank was thrown out at second. The Lady Lions would come down to their final out with runners on first and third. Freshman, Leigh Hastings hit a grounder to the Wildcats shortstop but another costly error allowed Oravec to score tying the game up at 5. They would hold the Wildcats to no runs in the bottom of the 7^th to force extra innings.  By rule, in extra innings each team starts the inning with a runner on second base and no outs. For the Lady Lions Freshman Molly Stair was placed on second. She would quickly advance to third on a wild pitch. With Stair, the go ahead run on third base, the Lady Lions couldn't get her home by striking out twice and grounding out to end the inning. The Wildcats quickly scored the winning run when centerfielder Katie Kratzer doubled to score Kimberly Walter from second base. The Wildcats won the game by a final score of 6-5 in 8 innings.

The Lady Lions had better luck in the second game. The Lady Lions started off the game in the top of the 1^st inning by scoring three runs. Sophomore Bridget Fisher started with a leadoff triple. Next at bat Jessica George reached on an error by the Wildcats shortstop scoring Fisher for the first run of the game. Rachel Lojas would continue the hitting with a single. Lojas and George advanced up a base on a passed ball the next at bat. Sabrina Johns picked up her second RBI on the day with a groundout to the shortstop scoring George from third. Lojas moved up to third on the play allowing Jenna Swank to single her in the next at bat. The Wildcats answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. The score remained 3-2 Lady Lions until the bottom of the 5^th inning when the Wildcats tied it up at three. The Lady Lions took the lead in the top of the 7^th by scoring 5 runs. Molly Stair led the inning off with a walk. The next two batters for the Lions popped out and struck out. With two outs Lojas hit her first homerun of the year with a two run bomb to left field. Oravec reached on an error next at bat. Johns continued her stellar day with another RBI single, scoring Oravac from second. Swank singled the next at bat. Next up was junior Breana Swank, she reached on an error by the Wildcats third baseman, loading the base up for Leigh Hastings. Hastings hit a two run single to center field to score Swank and Johns. The Lady Lions went up by a score of 8-3 and needed every run they scored that inning. The Wildcats made things interesting in the bottom of the 7^th by scoring four runs. With the tying run on second and two outs the Lady Lions starting pitcher, Jenna Swank, got Wildcats leftfielder Casey Davis to fly out to leftfield to end the threat and the game. The victory was the Lady Lions second of the season and first in conference play.

The Lady Lions will host Penn State Beaver on Saturday, April 6^th at Wolfpack Park. The game is the first home game of the season for the Lady Lions.