The Kent State Tuscarawas softball team hosted PSU DuBois for an afternoon doubleheader on Tuesday and were swept by the visiting Lions 9-1 and 20-6. PSUD came in as the top team in the Penn State University Athletic Conference with a 9-1 record and stand 12 - 6 overall with the victories.
In the opener, the Navy and Gold faced off against the Lions pitching ace in Lizzy Scott who earned her eighth victory on the season against just three losses. The Lions scored five times in the top of the first inning on three hits and four Golden Eagles errors to jump out to a 5-0 lead. The Golden Eagles got a run of their own in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to 5-1 as Sabrina Smith doubled home Micaiah Stemple who had singled. PSUD kept chipping away however, and earned a 9-1 victory in five innings scoring once in the third, twice in the fourth and an insurance run in the fifth inning.
The second game started much like the first with the Lions scoring three times in the opening frame, but this time the Eagles were up to the challenge and scored four runs of their own in the home half of the opening inning to take a quick 4-3 lead. The Lions countered with three more runs in the second to grab the lead back at 6-4 and the Eagles added a run in the bottom of the second to trail 6-5 after two full innings of play.
After exploding for five runs in the top of the third, the Lions called on Scott once again to close the door as the two teams battled it out in the middle two innings before the blue and white took the lead back at 11-5 and would strike for seven runs in the top of the fourth to leap out to an 18-6 lead. They added three more in the top of the fifth for the final margin in a shortened five inning game that saw the hosts strand seven runners on base. Karlee Peach was 3/3 with three RBI singles, while Micaiah Stemple celebrated her birthday by going 2/2 with a double, a single, a walk and three runs scored, and Hailey Myers added an RBI double and a single.
There's no rest for the Golden Eagles as they host Penn State New Kensington on Wednesday afternoon for a double header with a 12 p.m. starting time.
Sabrina Smith tracks down an infield fly as a Lions runner holds as second.
Coach Peach and Lindsay Caldwell talk base running at third base.