CLERMONT, Fla. – It was a day of polar opposite games for the Geneva College softball team on Monday in Florida.  The Golden Tornadoes run-ruled Penn State Dubois 11-3 after five innings in the first game of the day, and then Geneva fell in an epic 11-inning pitcher's duel to Marian in the second game of the day, 3-2.  Geneva's record now stands at 2-2.

Senior Bobbi Ann Theiss (East Liverpool, Ohio/Beaver Local) took the ball in the first game against Penn State Dubois, and she worked around a one-out error for a scoreless first inning.  The Geneva offense took over from there.

Sophomore Sarah Johnson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) opened the bottom of the first with a single, and she quickly stole second.  Sophomore Madison Smith (Joshua Tree, Cali./Yucca Valley) followed with an RBI-double.  Senior April Lude (Canfield, Ohio/Western Reserved) then singled, and after an out, sophomore Nicole West (Glenwood, Md./McDonogh) drove both runners in on a double into the left-centerfield gap to give Geneva an early 3-0 lead.

A walk and a passed ball enabled Penn State Dubois to pull a run back in the top of the second, but the Golden Tornadoes continued swinging a hot bat.  The first three batters reached base in the bottom of the second inning, with Smith driving in one with a single, then West drove in another with her second RBI-double, and a couple of Penn State Dubois errors contributed to two more Geneva runs in giving the Golden Tornadoes a 7-1 lead.

Another Geneva error led to two runs off Theiss in the top of the fourth.  The Golden Tornadoes finished out the game in the bottom of the fifth, though.  Johnson singled and stole second, Smith drove her home with a single, Smith came around to score on a single from junior Marina Manuppelli (Mars, Pa./Mars), and then junior Madison Schultz (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) ended the game with a two-run home run over the left-centerfield wall, with the game called 11-3 due to the run-rule.

Theiss pitched all five innings and gave up five hits and just one earned run to earn her first victory of the season.  Smith led the way on offense, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs.  West also went 3-for-4 with a run and three RBIs.  Johnson stayed hot as well, also going 3-for-4 with three runs and two stolen bases, while Schultz went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs.

The second game proved to be a far different affair.  Freshman Haley Smith (Joshua Tree, Cali./Yucca Valley) took the circle, while Geneva went up against Marian's ace senior pitcher, Paige Rauhut.  There wasn't much offense to go around, with both pitchers piling up outs, in particular strikeouts.

Smith pitched out of a second-and-third one-out jam in the bottom of the third by striking out two Marian batters.  Then Smith's sister, Madison Smith, supplied some offense with a booming home run in the top of the fourth over the left field wall, giving Geneva a 1-0 lead.

Marian was able to even things up in the bottom of the fifth.  Smith walked the first batter to open the inning, and after the following batter tried unsuccessfully to bunt the runner over with two fouls, she then proceeded to line one into the gap for an RBI-double, and she went to third on the throw home.  However, Smith got a popup and two strikeouts to get out of the jam without further damage.

Neither team could generate any further offense against these two starting pitchers, sending the game into extra innings, at which point each inning began with a runner on second base.  Neither team could score in the eighth inning, but Geneva pushed a run across in the top of the ninth when Johnson scored on a sacrifice fly by Madison Smith.  However, Marian answered back in the bottom of the inning with a run to tie the score at 2-2.

The Geneva offense failed to take advantage of the runner at second base in the next two innings, but the Golden Tornadoes kept Marian off the board by cutting down two runners at the plate in each of the next two innings, sending the game to the 11^th inning.

Once again, Geneva couldn't push a run across in its half of the inning, and then Marian finally ended the game with a two-out RBI-single off of Smith, 3-2.

Both pitchers were tremendous and went the full game.  Haley Smith went 10.2 innings while giving up just five hits and one earned run, while striking out 11.  Rauhut did just slightly better, though, going all 11 innings and giving up five hits, one earned run, while striking out 17 batters.  Madison Smith drove in both Geneva runs, while West was the only hitter from either team with more than one hit, finishing 2-for-4.

"It was a good performance to start off the day with the win over Penn State Dubois," said Head Coach Van Zanic.  "In the second game, we played a very good Marion team and went up against their senior all-conference pitcher, and Haley matched her pitch-for-pitch as a freshman in just her second career game.  We need to execute better in games like today, but games like today are why we come to Florida, and I trust they will prepare us for games like this in future."

Geneva is right back in action again tomorrow with two more games.  The Golden Tornadoes take on St. Scholastica at 1:45 p.m. followed by a matchup with Suffolk at 4:30 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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.