Softball Opens Season Against PSU-Fayette in Conference Opener

McKeesport, PA. – After a little bit of a delayed start to the 2019 season, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Softball team (0-0, 0-0) is set to kick off their season when they take on Penn State Fayette (1-8, 0-0) in doubleheader action on Friday starting at 2 p.m. Injury problems forced PSUGA to cut their season back a little bit, but now everyone is back and healthy as PSUGA gets ready to open their season hot as they start Penn State University Athletic Conference play.

PSUGA is coming off a historic campaign that saw them make the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season. They also made their mark in the PSUGA history books breaking the all-time overall win and conference win records going 16-10 and 14-6 in conference play. They clinched their playoff berth in the last week of the season winning seven of their last eight fames and got in as the #3 seed in the PSUAC West Division.

Their first-round matchup pitted them against #2 seeded PSU-Beaver on the road and had a tough task at hand after dropping all four regular season games to Beaver. PSUGA would get out to an early lead when Haley Snyder (Connelsville, PA./Connelsville HS) lifted a solo home run over the left field wall, but that is all PSUGA would get and their postseason run was cut short after a 7-1 loss.

Snyder is one of four returners from last year’s team and she is joined by fellow sophomores Tara Love (Chandler, PA./Campo Verde HS), Ivy Mervis (Pittsburgh, PA./Taylor Allderdice HS), and Alyssa Guzzie (Pittsburgh, PA./Fox Chapel HS). Love is set to be one of the team’s primary pitchers this season while Guzzie and Mervis will both return to the outfield with Guzzie starting in center field and Mervis returning to right.

They are joined by a group of strong returners including Serra Catholic graduate Theresa Terlecki (Pittsburgh, PA./Serra Catholic HS) and Lackawanna transfer Samantha Snashell (Buffalo, NY./Charter School for Applied Technology). Both will be featured in the middle of the PSUGA order as they look to bring more power to the PSUGA lineup.

PSU-Fayette hasn’t gotten off to the start they wanted to in 2019 going just 1-8 over their first nine games. They were swept in a doubleheader their last time out falling to Waynesburg University 11-0 and 13-6. After being mercy ruled in the first game, Fayette would fall behind once again in game two 7-0. However, they battled back scoring two in the fourth and three in the fifth to make it a 7-5 game before Waynesburg once again pulled away for the victory.

In 14 all-time matchups, PSUGA is 4-10 against PSU-Fayette, but those numbers have been much better over the last two seasons. The two teams split the season series last year with each team getting two wins. PSUGA got the last laugh picking up a 10-1 victory in the final regular season. Former Lion Lacie Lautner gave up just three hits in that game while Snyder went 1-3 with three RBI at the plate.

First pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 2 p.m. followed by game two at around 4 p.m. on the campus of PSU-Fayette.