McKeesport, PA. – After a slow start to the season, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Softball team (0-4, 0-4) is looking for a rebound when they go on the road to take on Penn State DuBois (4-5, 4-0) on Friday at 6 p.m. Their offense continued to improve last time out, but they just didn’t have enough to take down a strong PSU-Fayette offense and dropped their first four conference games of the season.
The series wrapped up on Wednesday when PSUGA took loses of 9-1 and 15-0 to take a sweep in the series finale. Game one saw them score their first run of the season in the top of the third after an Ivy Mervis (Pittsburgh, PA./Allderdice HS) leadoff single. Tara Love (Chandler, AZ./Campo Verde HS) would then step in with one out and lined an RBI double to the right-centerfield gap to score Mervis and cut the deficit to 3-1. However, Fayette’s offense just kept going and a five-run bottom of the fifth enacted the mercy rule handing PSUGA a 9-1 loss.
Game two saw PSUGA threaten early on using their patience to walk the bases loaded in the top of the first with two outs. However, they ended up stranding the bases loaded and Fayette once again started rattling off runs. They scored nine in the bottom of the second and went on to take game two 15-0 sweeping the season series over PSUGA.
Love led the way going 1-2 with two walks and an RBI while teammate Savanna Simm (West Mifflin, PA./West Mifflin HS) went 2-4 picking up one hit in each game of the doubleheader. Freshman Holly George (Homer City, PA./Homer-Center HS) led the pitching staff improving on her first start in game one lasting four innings giving up five runs, six earned, while walking four and striking out two.
With the Fayette series behind them, PSUGA is looking to move forward with some of the experience they have gained over the first series. The second series of the year doesn’t look any easier for head coach Vickki Blosser and her team as they match up with a team that is 4-0 in conference play in PSU-DuBois.
DuBois is coming off a series sweep of PSU-New Kensington that saw them score a combined 46 runs in the four game series. Their final game was a close one as they scratched out a 7-6 win over New Kensington on Saturday. After DuBois jumped out to a 5-1 lead through four innings, New Kensington put up five runs in the top of the 5th to move the score to 6-5. DuBois responded with two in the bottom of the inning and it was enough to pick up the 7-6 win.
In eight previous match-ups with PSU-DuBois, PSUGA has been the beneficiary in all right of those matchups with a perfect 8-0 record. They swept the season series last season outscoring PSU-DuBois 68-20 over the four games including two 17-1 wins to wrap up the series last April.
First pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. followed by game two at 8 p.m. The games will be played at DuBois City Park Field just off the campus of PSU-DuBois.
