WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College softball team (17-19, 10-12) closes out the 2026 season with a split against the Bethany Bison (27-10, 15-7). Bethany opened the day with a 5-1 game one win before W&J flipped the script with a 2-0 victory in game two. W&J closed the season winning six of their last seven games.
Bethany 5, W&J 1 (Game One)
Junior
Mirranda Rinehart (Washington, Pa./Trinity) led the W&J offense in game one, batting 2-for-3 from the plate and scoring a run.
The Bison offense powered five runs past the Presidents in the third and fourth innings, but the team did not go down without a fight. The Presidents' offense found a way through and got a run on the board in the fifth. Rinehart singled to start the rally before
Haylee Young (Zanesville, Ohio/John Glenn) reached on an error to score the junior.
Back-to-back singles in the bottom of the seventh started a last-ditch rally for the Presidents, but the Bethany defense held together and took the 5-1 game one win.
Freshman
Braelyn Altman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) got the start and pitched 2.2 innings. Young came in and recorded 4.1 innings of relief. Both pitchers finished the day with two strikeouts.
W&J 2, Bethany 1 (Game 2)
Senior
Hannah Allen (Harrison City, Pa./Penn Trafford) led the Presidents at the plate in game two by hitting 2-for-3 and scoring a run. Classmate
Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) also hit 2-for-3 in game two. Sophomore
Savannah Bodnar (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) led the team with two RBIs following a home run.
Bethany threatened to score in the opening inning of the contest. The W&J defense, led by senior
Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa./MMI Preparatory School) in the circle, found their way out of the jam and held the Bison to four scoreless innings to start the game.
The two Presidents' runs came in the fourth inning. Allen reached base on an error to start the rally before Bodnar hit a home run over the left-field fence to open the scoring.
Bethany responded with a run in the fifth, but the W&J defense continued to hold strong and sealed the 2-1 victory in game two.
Witner pitched a complete game and recorded two strikeouts for the seniors' seventh win of the season. Witner pitched an efficient outing, only requiring ten pitches per inning. Additionally, three defensive innings for Witner required five pitches or fewer.
The Red & Black finished their 2026 campaign with 17 wins, including ten in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. The team recorded three sweeps against PAC opponents throughout the season. Additionally, multiple Presidents moved up the record books. Allen finished her W&J career with 148 hits, moving her up to sixth all-time. The senior recorded 52 hits this season to make her fifth all-time in single-season hits, surpassing her mark of 50 last season. Allen finished her career third all-time with a .417 career batting average as well.
Classmate
Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) finished her career as a President in a tie for the all-time triples leader. DiPietro-Harvey recorded 11 triples while at W&J.
Defensively, the team finished the regular season as the seventh-highest fielding percentage in the country. Witner recorded 273.0 innings pitched as a President.
W&J returns a strong core group that plays a large role in the lineup and will be looking to build off this season next year.
