CLERMONT, Fla. – The W&J softball team used a 13-hit effort to secure an 8-5 win over Southern Virginia Univesity in Tuesday action at the PFX Spring Games. The Presidents suffered an 11-1 loss to Grinnell in six innings.
W&J 8, Southern Virginia 5
Sydney Petrowski (Lemont Furnace, Pa./Connellsville) got the start in the circle and the eventual win in the first game with a stint of relief for the last inning from
Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School) to close out the game.
During her six innings in the circle, Petrowski gave up four runs on eight hits and registered a game-high four strikeouts. Witner would come in in the top of the seventh and face the final five batters of the game to help nail down the win for the Presidents.
The game started out scoreless for both teams through the first three innings. The Red & Black picked up one run in the top of the fourth with two hits and were able to shut down the Knights in the bottom of the frame in order.
Aliya Schraeder (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) doubled home Petrowski for the game's first initial run.
W&J broke the game wide open in the top of the fifth, scoring five times on five hits with the benefit of an error by SVU.
Singles by Hannah Allen (Harrison City, Pa. / Penn Trafford),
Deanna Gratton (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), Petrowski and
Aliya Schraeder (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) helped the W&J hit parade.
A two-run double by
Kyra Blauth (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) extended the lead to 6-0. After SVU got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, W&J tallied two runs in the sixth.
A one-out double by Miranda Rinehart () set the stage for the insurance runs. Gratton followed with an RBI single in front of a sac fly by
Austine Kinney (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick.
Southern Virginia made things interesting by scoring the final four runs. Six runs came in the sixth before SVU added a single run in the seventh to make the final score 8-5.
Petrowski and Schraeder led the way with three hits apiece during the 13-hit attack. Rinehart added two hits and two runs scored. Gratton and Blauth also finished with two hits apiece.
Petrowski improved her record to 2-1 in 2024. She struck out four and walked just one.
Grinnell 11, W&J 1
Despite registering nine hits as a team, the Presidents were unable to string enough together to find the scoring column until the sixth and what would be final inning due to mercy rule.
W&J would record two hits and leave two runners on in both the first and second inning. Grinnell got on the board with three runs in the third inning. They added another three spot in the fifth to make the score 6-0. They tacked on five more runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-0.
Allen drew a walk in the leadoff spot and would be the only President to set foot on the base paths in the bottom of the third.
Jordan Hinz (Ellicott City, Md. / Centennial) would induce a pop up to the shortstop, followed by a strikeout looking and another pop-fly, this time to left field, to retire Grinnell three up three down in the top of the fourth.
Hinz would also collect the only hit for the Presidents in the bottom of the frame on a leadoff single down the right field line but be left stranded at first as the next three Presidents were retired in order.
Grinnell would add three more to their score in the fifth and five more runs in the sixth to put themselves out of reach for the Red & Black leading 11-0 going into the bottom of the sixth. Hinz and
Savannah Keough (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) each recorded two hits apiece to lead W&J in game two.
Hinz would be saddled with the loss for the Red & Black.
Up Next: After an off day Wednesday, W&J faces The College at Old Westbury (9:00 a.m.) and Elmhurst (11:30 a.m.) on Thursday at the Spring Games.
