Unbeaten Seton Hill Softball Holds Off Hilltoppers
GREENSBURG, Pa. – Unbeaten Seton Hill handed the hard-luck West Liberty softball team two more frustrating losses here Tuesday afternoon, prevailing by scores of 1-0 and 8-5.
In the opener, one swing of the bat made all the difference in a classic pitcher's duel. West Liberty (0-6) ace Makenzie Amend carried a 2-hit shutout into the fourth inning of a scoreless game. After Amend retired the first two batters, the Griffins' Morgan Toal fouled off the first pitch and then launched Amend's next offering over the left field wall.
That turned out to be the only run of the game as Seton Hill (5-0) hurler Morgan Ryan scattered four hits while piling up 13 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout.
A Kieran Johnson single and a one-out walk to Riley Conkle put the tying and go-ahead runs on base for WLU in the top of the sixth but Ryan fanned the next two batters on just eight pitches to end the threat.
In the second game, West Liberty battled all the way back from a 5-0 deficit to force extra innings only to be victimized by a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Griffins used the long ball to build that 5-0 lead with all five runs coming in the bottom of the second. Natalia Greco got things started with a one-out solo blast and Toal launched a two-run shot to fuel the 5-run uprising.
The Hilltoppers answered with three runs in the top of the third. Sidney Little squeezed home a run and beat the rap at first for an RBI single. With runners on first and third, Little broke for second and Makayla Blair trotted home from third when the throw sailed into centerfield. Riley Conkle's sacrifice fly scored Little from third.
West Liberty pulled even, 5-5, in the top of the fourth. Katie Beeman led off with a single and stole second before Grace Swigart hammered a game-tying homer over the left field fence.
The score remained tied until with one out in the bottom of the eighth, SHU pinch-hitter Brooke Cleland ripped a game-winning 3-run homer to send the hard-luck Hilltoppers away empty-handed.
SOFTBALL
Seton Hill 1, West Liberty 0
West Liberty 000 000 0 – 0 4 0
Seton Hill 000 100 x – 1 3 1
WLU: Amend lp (3SO, 0W), Bennington (5) (1SO, 0W) and M.Blair. Conkle D
SHU: Ryan wp (13SO, 2W) and Zang. Toal HR, S, rbi
Seton Hill 8, West Liberty 5
(one out when winning run scored)
West Liberty 003 200 00 - 5 5 1
Seton Hill 050 000 03 - 8 7 1
WLU: Paterson (2SO, 3W), Bonnett (2) (2SO, 0W), Amend lp (6) (4SO, 1W) and McCroskey. Beeman D, S; Swigart HR, 2rbi; Little S, rbi
SHU: Dellett (1SO, 0W), Hartman (3) (4SO, 1W), Elliott wp (5SO, 0W) and Zang. Cleland HR, 3rbi; Toal HR, 2rbi; Greco HR, rbi; Dellett D, rbi