BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College softball team won two more games on Saturday and extended the second-longest winning streak in school history to 11 games. The Golden Tornadoes defeated Thiel College 11-0 in five innings before beating the Tomcats 9-3 in game two. The doubleheader sweep moved Geneva's overall record to 15-3, while Thiel remained winless on the season at 0-12.
 
Hannah Raygor (Germantown, MD) jump started the offense in the first inning of game one with a two-run homer to get Geneva on the board. A five-run second inning extended the lead featuring RBI hits from Madison Schultz (Cranberry Twp., PA), Sarah Johnson (Highlands Ranch, CO), Marina Manuppelli (Mars, PA) and Nicole West (Glenwood, MD).
 
The Golden Tornadoes plated two more runs in the third on a run-scoring triple from Johnson and an RBI-single from Madison Forsythe (Trafford, PA). Two more runs in the fourth inning closed out the scoring, with the first coming on an RBI-single from Elishea Reed (Lanse, PA).
 
West picked up her seventh victory of the season with three innings of scoreless work. She gave up four hits and struck out two. Victoria Baker (Havelock, NC) cleaned up the final two scoreless innings. Baker surrendered two hits in her two innings of work. Geneva's offense compiled 11 hits including, two each from Johnson and Forsythe, with West accounting for a pair of RBI's.
 
Game two did not come quite as easily for the Golden Tornadoes. Geneva did post the game's first run in the bottom of the third inning on a Forsythe sacrifice fly. Thiel took its first and only lead of the game on a two-run homer in the fourth inning that gave the Tomcats a short-lived advantage.
 
In the fifth inning, Geneva was finally able to break things open with four runs. Johnson drove in the first run of the inning with her second triple of the day. Following another Forsythe RBI base-hit, Manuppelli lined a ball over the left field fence for her second home run of the season, extending the lead to 5-2.
 
Four more runs in the sixth inning put the game away for Geneva. Forsythe continued her impressive day at the plate with an RBI-double, which was followed by a run-scoring single from Raygor, who was then pushed home on a two-run blast from Peri Ceasri (El Dorado Hills, CA). 
 
In what was probably the most impressive performance of the day, Kyleigh Jo Ward (Laceyville, PA) started in the circle for the first time in three years and put together a stellar pitching performance. Ward went five innings and allowed two runs on six hits while striking out five batters. West got her second save of the year by allowing one run in the final two innings of relief.
 
Geneva banged out another 14 hits in game two, highlighted by three each for Johnson and West, with Forsythe, Ceasri and Manuppelli each getting a pair of knocks.
 
"The thing that jumps out at me to be sure is what Kyleigh did in game two," said Head Coach Van Zanic. "We asked her to go out there and give us a few innings, and it was like she never had stopped pitching. To do what she did today after not pitching in a game for three years was nothing short of remarkable. It was nice to see the ball fly over the fence a few times today and to get so much offensive support up and down the line-up. It is a special group that can put together 11 straight wins at any point, so I'm excited for them to be able to experience this level of success."
 
Geneva will travel to Washington & Jefferson for a doubleheader on Monday before the first conference game of the season on Wednesday when the Golden Tornadoes are scheduled to host Franciscan University.


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.