GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College softball team took both ends of a home Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon from conference leader Allegheny at College Field.
Sophomore shortstop
Rylie Eaton (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) launched a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game One to give the Wolverines a 9-8 victory. In Game Two, junior pitcher
Brooke Brodie (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore) and freshman pitcher
Abigail Meadors (Warren, Ohio/Champion) combined on a two-hitter as Grove City earned a 6-1 victory.
Grove City held leads of 7-1 and 8-3 in the opener but Allegheny rallied with five runs in the top of the seventh. Brodie, working in relief, retired the final two batters of the top of the seventh with runners on second and third.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Eaton blasted a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left center field. It is her first collegiate home run.
Eaton finished 2 for 3 as Grove City collected a dozen hits in Game One. Junior second baseman
Maci Linhart (Columbiana, Ohio/Columbiana) tripled and singled while senior catcher
Lauren Harris (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) doubled and singled. Freshman left fielder
Evelyn Montone (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) added a pair of hits while Meadors doubled.
Montone singled in Linhart in the fourth inning, then scored on Meadors' double. Grove City's lead grew to 3-1 later in the inning when sophomore pinch runner
Noel Anthony (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) scored on an error.
Harris singled in Brodie and Linhart to help ignite a four-run fifth inning. Harris later scored on a single from senior designated player
Erin Mulholland (Malvern, Pa./Delaware County Christian). Mulholland came home on Eaton's single up the middle, pushing the lead to 7-1. Harris then doubled home Montone in the sixth.
Brodie earned the Game One win in relief by recording the final three outs. Meadors pitched the first six innings, allowing three earned runs and five hits. Freshman
Alexis Jackson (Coventry Township, Ohio/Coventry) also pitched in relief.
Grove City never trailed in the nightcap as Mulholland's first inning single scored Linhart and freshman pinch runner
Abby Stouffer (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim).
Allegheny cut the lead to 2-1 in the third but the Wolverines added a run in the fifth and three more runs in the sixth to seal the win. Junior right fielder
Annika Rinehart (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) scored the third run on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Harris singled in Linhart and Meadors followed with a two-run safety. Harris and junior third baseman
Rachel Zona (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) scored on the Meadors hit.
Linhart, Mulholland and Rinehart all doubled.
Brodie also earned the win in Game Two by allowing one run in five innings. She yielded two hits. Meadors recorded Grove City's first save of the season by pitching two perfect innings of relief. She struck out four.
Winners of four straight games, Grove City will visit defending conference champion Waynesburg University at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The top eight teams in the league are separated by three games. The top six will qualify for the season-ending conference tournament.
