WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College softball team dropped both games of a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday against Chatham. The Cougars took the front end of the doubleheader in a down to the wire matchup which would result in extra innings 7-6 in eight innings before adding a 7-1 game two victory. 

The Presidents would also honor their four senior players and team manager prior to the start of game two. Seniors included Kasey Scears (Washington, Pa. / Chartiers Houston), Mollie Charlton (North Apollo, Pa. / Apollo Ridge), Kate Barone (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mount Lebanon), Peyton Eckenrode (York Haven, Pa. / Northeastern), and Julia Hurwitz.

The losses drop W&J to 1-11 in PAC play and 7-17 overall. Chatham improves its standing in the league as they move to 3-9 in the PAC and 8-20 overall. 

Game 1 - Chatham 7, W&J 6 (8 Innings)

Chatham got on a roll offensively early in this contest as they added the first points of the game to the scoreboard in the top of the first while tacking on two more in the third inning off of a two-run blast by Mackenzie Dunn to straight center field to put the Cougars up by three heading into the bottom of the inning.

W&J began the comeback tour as they compiled their first runs of the game off of two singles hit by Emily Schmucker (Latrobe, Pa. / Latrobe) and Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School) which would draw in two runs for the Presidents, cutting the Chatham lead to one, 3-2. The Presidents were able to even the score in the fourth after a sequence of events would score Deanna Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) after Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Taylor Allderdice) would steal second and become a catalyst for the run to cross home plate.

Chatham would regain the lead shortly and again lose it after W&J scored seniors Kate Barone and Peyton Eckenrode off of a single by Mackenzie Boyd (Beaver, Pa. / Beaver) to take the close matchup into extra innings.

In the top of the eight, the Cougars would find a way to tack on two runs with a rally of hits while on the flip side of the inning, the Presidents fell just shy of completing the walk-off finish after Savanna Keough (hit in a run, cutting the Cougar lead to one. W&J would end up leaving two runners on base after running out of outs to use in the final innings as Chatham would take a slim, 7-6 victory.

Boyd and Gratton both tallied two hits in the outing as Boyd also led the team in RBI along with Schmucker, Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School), and Keough who all added one a piece. 

Witner started in the circle, worked five innings and the start but junior pitcher Jordan Hinz (Ellicott City, Md. / Centennial) suffered the loss in relief today in three innings of work.

Game 2 - Chatham 7, W&J 1 

The cougars would find a large lead in the second half of the series in the middle innings and ride that to the final out. Chatham would find themselves with a six-run lead by the end of the top of the fourth inning without a response from the Presidents offensively.

W&J muster up a rally though in the bottom of the fourth as Keough would single up the middle and advance to second after Boyd would test her luck and attempt to slide into home while the Cougars were dealing with Keough. Boyd would slide into home safety in an electric fashion, as she tried to rally the rest of the Presidents, but to no avail. W&J would go on to be suppressed offensively for the remainder of the bout as they would ultimately fall, 7-1. 

Kasey Scears was the long President to tally two hits as Julia DiPietro-Harvey, Mackenzie Boyd, Savannah Keough, and Austine Kinney (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) would round out the W&J bats with one hit each.

Emily Schmucker would get the start but be tagged with the loss after 3.1 innings of work.

On Deck: W&J heads Steubenville for a pair of games for midweek PAC action on Tuesday, April 18. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.