LATROBE, Pa. -- An extra inning game one victory keyed the Washington & Jefferson College softball team in a road split in a doubleheader matchup with the Saint Vincent Bearcats in Presidents' Athletic Conference action Monday in Westmoreland County.

The two teams played a pair of down to the wire contests Monday. The Presidents earned a 4-3 extra inning victory in game one before the Bearcats held on for a 5-3 win in game two.

The split puts W&J at 5-7 in the PAC and 8-14 overall. Saint Vincent is 8-4 in the conference and 16-10 overall.

W&J 4, Saint Vincent 3 (Game One – 8 Innings)
The Presidents collected a much-needed conference win in game one after a late rally by Saint Vincent forced extra innings. A trio of sophomores played key roles in the victory as Hannah Allen (Harrison City, Pa./Penn-Trafford), Kyra Blauth (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) and Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School) powered the Presidents to the victory.

W&J opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning. A one-out single by Savannah Keough (Alexandria, Va. / T.C. Williams) was followed by Mirranda Rinehart (Washington, Pa./Trinity) reaching on an error in the next at-bat. Rinehart stole second base to put both runners in scoring position. The hot-hitting by Allen continued as the sophomore brought home Keough with an RBI single to give W&J a 1-0 lead.

Both pitchers did a nice job of keeping the opposing offenses off balance for the next several innings as the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Presidents through five innings.

W&J tacked on a pair of runs to its lead in the sixth. Rinehart led off with a single before stealing second base. That is when Allen came through once again. After failing to get down a bunt, Allen instead swung and connected on a two-run home run to make it 3-0 Presidents. The home run was the fourth of the season for Allen.

After five scoreless innings, Saint Vincent broke through with three runs on three hits to tie the score in the sixth. A leadoff walk helped the Bearcats who had an RBI single by Alyssa Henderson and a two-run single by Shayna Perigo to even the score at 3-3.

Neither team could produce the potential game-winning run in the seventh so the game went to extras.

W&J broke through with a score in the top of the eighth which ultimately propelled them to victory. Keough led off with a single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Keough.

A bloop single into shallow left center by Allen put runners on the corners as Keough advanced to third. Blauth then came through with a go-ahead RBI single that scored Keough.

Jordan Hinz (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) slammed the door shut in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.

Allen put together another big game at the plate. The sophomore collected three hits, three RBI, stole a base and scored a run in the victory. Keough added a multi-hit effort for the Presidents.

Witner started and worked 5.2 innings and gave up three runs.

Hinz earned the victory with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Hinz allowed just one hit and struck out a pair.

Saint Vincent 5, W&J 3 (Game Two)
The Bearcats scored in each of the first three innings to record the game two victory and earn a split of the doubleheader.

A two-out single by Nicolette Kloss gave the Bearcats a 1-0 lead after the first. Saint Vincent tacked on two more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 3-0.

W&J battled back with a pair of runs in the top of the third. The Presidents used four consecutive one-out singles to cut the deficit to 3-2. Sydney Petrowski (Lemont Furnace, Pa./Connellsville) opened the rally with a single before a hit by Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) put a pair of runners into scoring position.

Aliya Schraeder (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) followed with an RBI single which scored Petrowski. A batter later, Keough singled up the middle to score DiPietro-Harvey. During the next at bat, W&J attempted a double steal with runners on the corners. However, a well-executed defensive play allowed the Bearcats to cut down Schraeder who was attempting to score to tie the score.

Saint Vincent responded with two runs in the bottom of the third inning to extend the lead back to three runs. A two-run single by Lily Rush made it 5-2 after three complete innings.

Neither team would score in the fourth, five or sixth innings.

W&J made things interesting in the seventh. Following an out, Taylor Dunn (Washington, Pa./Trinity), DiPietro-Harvey and Schraeder all singled to load the bases. A fielder's choice groundout made from Keough cut the deficit to 5-3.

W&J then reloaded the bases following a single to left by Rinehart. Saint Vincent was able to escape the late game pressure situation by inducing a 3-2 pop up to short for the final out.

Petrowski started and suffered the loss in the circle. The senior allowed three runs in two innings of work. Taylor Dunn (Washington, Pa./Trinity) worked four innings in relief. The freshman allowed two runs on five hits.

W&J finished with 12 hits in game two but left seven runners stranded on base.

Schraeder, Keough, Rinehart, Blauth and DiPietro-Harvey all had two hits in the loss.
 
On Deck: W&J hosts Franciscan University for another league doubleheader on Tuesday, April 16. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Brooks Park in Washington.