BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College softball team was one out away from a doubleheader sweep against Waynesburg on Saturday, but the Golden Tornadoes couldn't hang on and had to settle for a split on the afternoon, winning game one, 7-4, before losing game two, 4-3. Geneva is now 13-15, 5-9 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Waynesburg is 12-14, 5-7 in the PAC.
In game one, Waynesburg scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning before Geneva exploded for five runs in the bottom of the inning. Freshmen Marina Manuppelli, Madison Schultz, and Hailey Warrick, along with junior Ericka Hess, all had RBIs in the inning.
Freshman Kyleigh Jo Ward put together another strong outing in the circle. She went five innings, giving up just one earned run. After Waynesburg scored another unearned run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3, Geneva scored twice more in its half of the fifth, with Hess adding another RBI, and sophomore Bobbi Ann Theiss closed out the victory from there, 7-4.
Hess led the offense, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs, while Manuppelli and Schultz each added two hits. Ward picked up the win.
In the second game, Geneva scored early, pushing across a run in the first on a single from Manuppelli. Waynesburg responded with two runs in the second, due in part to a Geneva error. However, Ward settled down from there, not allowing another hit until the seventh inning. When Geneva pushed across single runs in the fifth and sixth innings on RBIs from sophomore April Lude and junior Haley Sainato, Geneva took a 3-2 lead to the seventh.
Things looked good when Ward retired the first two batters, but a walk, a double and a triple led to two runs and stunned the Golden Tornadoes late, and Geneva was unable to respond in the bottom half of the inning, resulting in a tough 4-3 loss.
Freshman Angel Rowe was 3-for-3 in game two, while Sainato, Ward, and Lude all had two hits. Geneva actually outhit Waynesburg 12 to 3, but the Golden Tornadoes couldn't get the big hit to break open the game, and it proved costly in the end. Ward pitched a complete game, picking up the loss to drop her record to 5-6, despite another strong outing.
Geneva will host Thiel College on Tuesday for its final home games of the season. The doubleheader will start at 3:30 p.m.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
