NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- The Grove City College softball team remains alive in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament after splitting a pair of tournament games Thursday at Westminster College. The fourth-seeded Wolverines opened the day with a 3-2 victory over No. 5 Bethany.

Grove City's comeback effort fell short in its second game as top-seeded Westminster held off the Wolverines, 5-3. Grove City left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings. 

Grove City trailed 2-0 in the first inning against Bethany before battling back. Junior second baseman Maci Linhart (Columbiana, Ohio/Columbiana) cracked a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning and then scored on a single from junior first baseman Brooke Brodie (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore).

Brodie tied the game in the bottom of the third as her triple to center field scored senior catcher Lauren Harris (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny). Brodie then scored the go-ahead run when freshman DP Alexis Jackson (Coventry Township, Ohio/Coventry) singled up the middle. 

Brodie, Linhart and sophomore center fielder Noel Anthony (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) all went 2 for 3 in the opener. Grove City finished with eight hits as a team. 

Freshman pitcher Abigail Meadors (Warren, Ohio/Champion) earned the win by firing a complete game. She struck out seven and walked only one in seven innings. Meadors (11-6) allowed five hits. 

Grove City (24-16) trailed 4-0 against Westminster but broke through in the fourth inning as junior right fielder Annika Rinehart (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) doubled and later scored on a Harris single. 

In the sixth, Meadors singled in freshman left fielder Evelyn Montone (Allentown, Pa./Parkland). Meadors then cut the lead to 5-3 in the seventh inning by driving in Harris with a single up the middle. However, the game ended with Grove City having the go-ahead run on base. 

Montone helped paced Grove City's 11-hit attack by going 4 for 4 with two doubles. It is Montone's first four-hit game of the season and her 13th multi-hit game of 2024. Harris added three hits while Meadors finished 2 for 4.

Starting pitcher Brodie allowed two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. She took the setback. Jackson recorded the final two outs of the sixth inning. 

Linhart took over sole possession of first place in program history when she scored her 97th career run in Thursday's opener. Meadors extended her own single-season program for strikeouts as she now has 124 this year. 

Grove City's 24 wins this year are the most in program history. The Wolverines will face No. 3 Geneva at 9 a.m. Friday in an elimination game. That will be Grove City's 41st game of the season, a program record. The Grove City-Geneva winner will play either Allegheny or Bethany in Friday's finale at 3 p.m.