BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College softball team continued its recent hot streak with another strong performance on Tuesday afternoon against Saint Vincent, sweeping the visiting Bearcats by scores of 9-1 (in six innings) and 8-6.  The wins extended Geneva's winning streak to nine games and improves its record to 21-13 overall, 13-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference standings.

Sophomore Sophia Tvaroch again got the first game start for the Golden Tornadoes, and she battled through some early trouble to strand five Bearcat baserunners over the first two innings, without allowing a run.

Geneva got on board in the bottom of the third when freshman Molly Shelley singled with two outs.  Shelley stole second base, which broke Geneva's single season record for steals with 37 stolen bases, and she came home on an RBI-single from sophomore Lexi Zanic. 

The Golden Tornadoes added to their lead in the fourth.  Sophomore Justine Robbins singled, and two batters later sophomore Madison Rapp homered over the left field wall, her first career home run, to increase Geneva's lead to 3-0.

Tvaroch continued to keep the Bearcats off the scoreboard, and the Geneva offense kept scoring runs.  In the bottom of the fifth, Zanic opened with a walk and went to second on a single from senior Julia Hart.  Robins drove both runners home with a double, and two batters later Rapp drove home Robbins to make it 6-0.

Saint Vincent took advantage of a Geneva error to finally push an unearned run across the plate in the sixth, but the Golden Tornadoes finished things off in the bottom of the frame.  Back-to-back Bearcat errors to open the inning allowed Geneva to score three times.  Robbins again doubled home two runners, and junior Megan Gray's single driving home Robbins ended the game, 9-1.

Tvaroch earned her sixth win of the season, pitching 5.1 innings while giving up just six hits and one unearned run.

Robbins was the star of the game for the Golden Tornadoes, finishing 4-of-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and four RBIs.  Rapp also had a big game for Geneva, going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs.

Graduate student Haley Smith got the start in the circle in game two, and after two scoreless innings for both teams, Saint Vincent got on the board first with a two-run double after a Geneva error helped start the rally.

The Golden Tornadoes immediately responded, though.  Freshman Kyra Wilcox opened the inning with a single, and she came around to score two batters later on a single from Zanic.  Hart followed with a home run over the left centerfield fence to drive home Zanic and give Geneva its first lead of the game, 3-2.

Another Geneva error in the top of the fourth allowed Saint Vincent to score two unearned runs to retake the lead, 4-3.

Geneva quickly responded again, though.  Rapp got things started with a single, and she eventually scored on an RBI-single from Wilcox.  Wilcox stole second and came home on a single from Shelley.  Shelley stole second, and after a walk to Zanic, Hart brought them both home with a double.  Robbins finished up the outburst with an RBI-single to give the Golden Tornadoes an 8-4 edge.

Saint Vincent got the first two batters on base to start the fifth, and sophomore McKenzie Rapp came in to relieve Smith.  Another Geneva error extended the inning and allowed the Bearcats to score twice, but that was the last scoring of the game.  Rapp closed out the win, pitching scoreless six and seventh innings to earn her sixth save of the season.  Smith earned the victory, her seventh of the season.

Wilcox led the offense with a 3-for-3 effort, including two runs and an RBI.  Hart finished 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.

Geneva returns right back to action tomorrow with a home non-conference doubleheader against Carnegie Mellon starting at 3:30 p.m.