BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Senior Haley Smith started and won both games of a softball doubleheader for Geneva on Monday afternoon against Chatham, earning the Golden Tornadoes two victories by scores of 11-4 and 5-1. Geneva improved to 8-12 overall, 3-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
Smith got early run support in game one of the doubleheader. Graduate student Sarah Johnson reached base on a hit-by-pitch to lead off the bottom of the first, and senior Madison Forsythe followed with an RBI-triple. Forsythe then came home on an RBI-groundout from junior Julia Hart to give the Golden Tornadoes an early 2-0 lead.
Geneva doubled its lead in the bottom of the second when Hart drove home graduate student Madison Smith with a double, and then senior Peri Ceasri followed with a single to drive home Hart.
The Cougars got on the board with a run in the top of the third. Hart answered that run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth.
Chatham had its best inning of the day in the top of the fifth, scoring three times with two outs to pull within one, 5-4. However, the Golden Tornado offense immediately responded with a big inning of their own. Geneva scored four times in the bottom of the fifth. Madison Smith had an RBI-single with the bases loaded that ended up resulting in three runs when the ball skipped past the left fielder. Smith would later score on a wild pitch to make it 9-4.
The Golden Tornadoes wrapped up the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBIs from Smith and Johnson, closing out the 11-4 victory.
Haley Smith earned the victory, pitching 6.0 innings while giving up five hits and four runs. She struck out four.
Johnson, Ceasri and junior Elishea Reed each collected two hits in the win. Forsythe, Smith and freshman Madison Rapp each scored twice, while Hart drove in three runs.
Smith got the ball in game two as well, and she was even more impressive. She retired the first 11 batters she faced before issuing a two-out walk in the fourth. The first Cougar hit didn't come until the fifth inning.
The Geneva offense struggled to get much going early, though the Golden Tornadoes did take advantage of a couple Chatham errors in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.
The offense pushed across another run in the fourth when Ceasri hit a one-out triple and scored on an RBI-single from Reed. Geneva then followed with a three-run inning in the fifth. Sophomore Megan Gray got the inning going with a leadoff double, and the Cougars helped the Golden Tornadoes out with two more errors in the inning.
Chatham got their only run of the game with two outs in the sixth, at which point freshman McKenzie Rapp relieved Smith and got out of a jam to limit the damage to just one run. Rapp then closed the door in the seventh to earn the first save of her career.
Smith earned her second win of the day, pitching 5.2 innings while giving up just three hits and two runs. She struck out two, improving her record to 7-3 on the year.
Geneva finished with seven hits in the game, with seven different Golden Tornadoes picking up a hit.
The women will be right back in action tomorrow when the Golden Tornadoes host Hilbert for a non-conference doubleheader, slated to start at 3:30 p.m.
Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).
