WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College softball team suffered a pair of setbacks to visiting Allegheny College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Brooks Park. The Gators took game one by a 7-2 score before tacking on a 12-4 win in a five-inning run-rule game two.
W&J drops to 11-19 overall and 3-13 in PAC play. Allegheny advances to 24-8 overall and 14-4 in the conference.
Game One - Allegheny 7, W&J 2
A solo home run by
Peyton Eckenrode (York Haven, Pa./Northeastern) gave W&J a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play in the opener.
The Presidents held the one-run edge until the Gators posted four runs in the top of the fourth inning. A solo home run by the Gators' Cameron Long evened the score. Allegheny tacked on three more runs, two of which were unearned, to build a 4-1 lead.
W&J answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 4-2 when
Savannah Keough (Alexandria, Va. / T.C. Williams) doubled in
Hannah Allen (Harrison City, Pa./Penn Trafford).
Allegheny tacked on three insurance runs during a four-hit sixth inning. A two-run single by Halle Book made it 7-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth. Eckenrode had a leadoff single in the bottom half of the inning but Allegheny retired the next three Presidents in order.
Eckenrode finished with the lone multi-hit effort for W&J in game one.
Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School) started and took the loss in the circle.
Aleya Belardinelli improved to 14-1 for Allegheny with the game one win. She struck out 11 Presidents in the opener and limited W&J to just four hits.
Game Two - Allegheny 12, W&J 4 (5 Innings)
Allegheny scored in all five innings and racked up 12 runs on 19 hits in game two. The Gators tallied a run in the top of the first to take the early lead.
W&J countered with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first. Keough and Eckenrode produced back-to-back one-out singles to start the rally.
Emily Schmucker (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) singled to right center to plate Keough.
Kyra Blauth (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) produced a sac fly to center to score Eckenrode and give W&J a 2-1 advantage.
That was the last lead for W&J, however. Allegheny scored twice in the top of the second and added six more runs in the third to swell is lead to 9-2. The lead grew to as much as 12-2 after the top of the fifth.
Aliya Schraeder (McDonald, Pa. / South Fayette) and
Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) led off with singles. After a sac bunt by Keough, Eckenrode tripled both runners home to bring the score to 12-4. W&J was unable to bring home Eckenrode to continue the game, as the final two outs were recorded to end the game in a run-rule victory for Allegheny.
Eckenrode put together another multi-hit effort in game two. The senior finished with two hits, two RBI, a run scored and the triple.
Jordan Hinz (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) was tagged with the loss. She worked the first 2.1 innings of the game.
On Deck: W&J welcomes Grove City to Brooks Park for a league doubleheader on Wednesday, April 26. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
