BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College softball team took on Chatham on Saturday afternoon in a home doubleheader, and after losing badly in game one, 8-0, the Golden Tornadoes rallied for an extra-inning win in game two, 3-2.  Geneva's record is now 11-13, 3-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Chatham stands at 7-13, 1-3 in the PAC.
 
Not much went right for Geneva in game one.  Chatham opened the scoring with five runs in the second inning off freshman starter Nicole West (Glenwood, Md./McDonogh), two of which were unearned due to a Golden Tornado error.
 
Chatham put the game away, and knocked out West, in the fourth inning, scoring three more runs, all of them unearned after another Geneva error, to go up 8-0.
 
The Golden Tornadoes never got going offensively against Chatham starter Julie Swedberg.  Geneva managed just four hits, and the game was called after five innings due to Chatham's large lead.  West took the loss to move her record to 3-6.
 
Junior Bobbi Ann Theiss (East Liverpool, Ohio/Beaver Local) took the ball in game two, and Chatham pushed across single runs in the first and third innings to take an early 2-0 lead.  After that, though, Theiss settled down and proved dominant from there.
 
Unlike in the first game, Geneva got a number of players on base in game two, but the Golden Tornadoes still struggled to get on the scoreboard.  Geneva had the bases loaded with no outs in the second and failed to score.  The Golden Tornadoes also left the bases loaded in the fifth.
 
Geneva finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI-double from sophomore Marina Manuppelli (Mars, Pa./Mars), but the Golden Tornadoes left two in scoring position, leaving them trailing 2-1 heading into the final inning.
 
Theiss retired the Cougars in order in the top of the seventh, and senior Haley Sainato (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk) got the offense going in the bottom of the seventh with a single and a stolen base.  Sophomore Madison Schultz (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) eventually drove in Sainato with an RBI-groundout, but Geneva once again left two runners on base, sending the game to extra innings tied at 2-2.
 
Theiss once again retired Chatham in order in the top of the eighth.  Geneva finally pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the inning.  With a runner at first and two outs, three straight Golden Tornadoes singled, with West driving in the winning run to end the game in walk-off fashion.
 
Theiss retired the last 14 batters she faced, throwing a complete game and earning the victory to move her record to 4-1.  Sainato and freshman Sarah Johnson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) each had three hits, while West finished 2-for-5 with the game-winning RBI.
 
"As bad as we were in the first game, we showed some great resiliency at the end of game two," said Head Coach Van Zanic.  "It was really nice to come back to reward what was maybe the best pitching effort of Bobbi Ann's career.  We still have a lot to clean up defensively, and we need to get more production from the middle of the lineup, but a split is better than what we almost had."
 
Geneva heads back out onto the road this week, with road PAC doubleheaders against Westminster on Wednesday and Waynesburg on Friday.


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.