GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Geneva College softball team took game one of its doubleheader at Grove City on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 7-2, and the Golden Tornadoes were leading in game two, 5-2, in the fifth inning when lighting caused the remainder of the game to be suspended.  The game will be completed next Tuesday at home on Conrady Field.  Geneva improved to 22-6 overall, 11-3 in the conference, with the win in game one.

In the first game, junior Molly Shelley got Geneva off to a good start in the top of the first when she led off with a double, stole third and came home on a throwing error by the catcher.

Senior Sophia Tvaroch got the start in the circle in the first game, and she had to work out of some trouble in the bottom of the first when Grove City put runners on first and third with no outs.  However, a caught stealing, a strikeout and a groundout ended the threat.

Both starting pitchers settled down after the early traffic in the first inning.  The Golden Tornadoes couldn't add to their lead over the next three innings, while Tvaroch held the Wolverines scoreless through four innings.

The Geneva offense came to life in the top of the fifth with a big inning, knocking Grove City ace Abigail Meadors out of the game while scoring six times.  Sophomore Stacey Rodriguez led off with a walk, and after an out, she scored on a double from Shelley.  Shelley later came home on a Wolverine error, and then senior Justine Robbins drove in two more runners with an RBI-triple into the gap.  Robbins scored on a single by junior Faith Bonar.  Later in the inning, Rodriguez drove in a sixth run with a sacrifice fly.

That was plenty of run support for Tvaroch, who pitched six scoreless innings before the bullpen allowed two runs in the final inning to wrap up the scoring. 

Tvaroch earned her ninth win of the season with 6.0 innings of shutout pitching, giving up just four hits while striking out three.

Shelley, Robbins and Ottaviani each posted two hits in the first game.  Robbins drove in two, while scoring a run, while Shelley scored twice, stole two bases and drove in one. 

Grove City went back to its ace in game two in Meadors, and Geneva jumped ahead again in the first inning, scoring twice on a two-out RBI-single from Bonar which drove in junior Kyra Wilcox and senior Lexi Zanic.

Geneva doubled its lead in the top of the third, with again the rally occurring with two outs.  Sophomore Isabela Skrlac drove in both runs with a single, scoring junior Aliya Ottaviani and senior Madison Rapp.

Grove City answered Geneva's two runs in the bottom of the frame with two runs of its own against senior starter McKenzie Rapp.

Geneva added a fifth run in the top of the fourth when Robbins and senior Payton James executed a double steal, with Robbins crossing the plate.

As the fifth inning was beginning, lightning was spotted in the distance, forcing the teams into a delay.  The weather did not clear up enough before the daylight started to disappear, forcing things to be suspended, with the completion scheduled for next Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at Geneva.

Softball keeps up with its busy stretch of games with a doubleheader at John Carroll on Friday at 3:30 p.m., a day before resuming conference play at Chatham on Saturday.