GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College softball team opened a six-game homestand Wednesday afternoon by dropping a non-conference doubleheader to visiting Baldwin Wallace at College Field. Baldwin Wallace scored twice in the top of the seventh inning to earn a 3-1 win in Game One. Grove City then fell in the nightcap, 5-4, in a game shortened to five innings by rain and impending darkness.

Grove City trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth in the nightcap before battling back. Senior first baseman Haley Dietz (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) cut the lead in half when she doubled in sophomore DP Emily Smyth (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township) and junior pitcher Janessa Dawson (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri-Valley). Dietz then scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch.

Grove City then had runners on the corners with one out in the inning but could not tie or take the lead. 

Dawson went 3 for 3 with two runs scored while Dietz finished 2 for 3. Dietz opened Grove City's scoring in the first inning by singling in Dawson. 

Dawson started in the pitcher's circle and allowed four earned runs in four innings. She struck out two and took the setback. Senior Katilyn Dittrich (Houston, Pa./Chartiers-Houston) struck out two batters in a scoreless fifth inning of relief.

In Game One, Grove City took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when sophomore third baseman Maralee Caldana (Milesburg, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) cracked a double that drove in Dietz. Baldwin Wallace tied the game in the fifth and then scored twice in the top of the seventh, however.

Sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Constantino (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) allowed one run in six innings for Grove City (8-10). She struck out four and walked none. Freshman Rachel Zona (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) pitched the seventh and absorbed the defeat after yielding a pair of runs.

Grove City returns to Presidents' Athletic Conference play Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Wolverines host Waynesburg University.