WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson softball team earned a doubleheader split with Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Chatham, defeating the Cougars 13-2 in five innings in game one before falling 1-0 in game two on Saturday afternoon, April 28.
 
The Presidents improve to 12-18 overall with an 8-10 record in the PAC after the split.
 
In the bottom of the first with two on and no one out, Taylor Andres (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) hit a two-RBI double to left center to give the Presidents an early 2-0 lead. Four batters later, with the bases loaded and still no outs, Jamie Smith (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) hit a sacrifice fly to center field before two more runs came in on the play courtesy of three Cougar errors.
 
Danielle Kochka (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) hit an infield single in the second with the bases loaded, bringing in a run to extend the W&J lead to 6-0. Meghan Staab (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) had a RBI single in the third inning followed by two more W&J runs on a total of two Chatham errors as W&J stretched the lead to 9-0.
 
After two Chatham runs in the top of the fourth on two hits and an error, Brooke Lapia (Oakdale, Pa./Chartiers Valley) and Dana Parker (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) had RBI hits and Rachel Johnson (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) had a two-RBI single in the bottom half to cap the scoring.
 
All nine starting hitters scored a run for the Presidents and seven had at least one hit, led by Johnson, Kochka and Ally Doty (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) who each had two hits.
 
Taylor Andres (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) tossed a complete game and allowed one earned run on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
 
Kristen Fuertes (West Chester, Pa./West Chester) got the start in the circle in game two and pitched 6.1 innings, allowing one unearned run before being relieved by Andres who finished the game.
 
The long Chatham run came in the seventh on a RBI ground out.
 
Five different Presidents tallied one hit apiece in the game two loss.
 
The Presidents will be back in action on Monday, April 30, when they travel to La Roche for a nonconference doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m.