East Homers In Split At Franciscan Monday

Erika Helo
Erika Helo

STEUBENVILLE, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team split a doubleheader at Franciscan Monday, earning the victory in the first game.

"Tough battle. A split on the road is good, though a sweep would have been nice," Head Coach Tina Phillips said. "In the first game, we hit well and made some nice defensive plays. My catchers (Emily, Kendra and Natalie) did a great job today keeping their aggression and speed in check. Just one bad inning to start game two and we never got going offensively. We made a few baserunning mistakes that hurt us. We will bounce back tomorrow to keep us in the hunt for playoffs."

Madison East knocked the team's first home run of the season with a shot to centerfield in the top of the first inning of game one. 

She went onto go 5-for-7 through both games, driving in two runs and scoring three in game one.

Jordan Uhing threw all seven innings in the circle for her eighth complete game of the season in game one, improving to 6-3 on the year.

Jenna Fellows put together a three-hit performance in game one.

After the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference split, the Panthers are now 6-8 in conference play.

Game One: Pitt-Bradford 6, Franciscan 3

The Panthers got the day started the right way as East stepped in and slugged a homer to deep center, putting the Panthers up 1-0 in the first.

Franciscan later tied it in the second as a Panther error allowed a run to score.

The two defenses held tough into the fifth, but a Franciscan rally broke the stalemate.

A triple scored a baserunner, then the runner came into score on a bunt single, putting Franciscan ahead, 3-1.

The Barons' lead would be short-lived, though, as the Panthers rallied and hung a three-spot in the sixth and never looked back.

East sparked the inning with a leadoff single, stole second and scored on an RBI single from Melissa Nye.

Fellows later lined a double to right field that scored Karissa Cratty and tied the game at 3-3.

Pitt-Bradford took the lead as Fellows came into score on a ball that got through the left side off the bat of Natalie Harding.

In the bottom half, Franciscan managed to get two runners aboard with no outs on a leadoff single followed by a hit by pitch. 

But back-to-back fielder's choices nabbing the lead runners at third followed by an inning-ending lineout to Maddy Hillery at second held the Panthers' 4-3 lead.

Pitt-Bradford added two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh as East doubled home Grace Dadzaa and later scored on an RBI single from Lindsay Hull.

The Barons threatened in the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back one-out singles, but Uhing worked a big strikeout for the second out and induced a fielder's choice to secure the victory in game one. 

On the bases, Dadzaa, East, Cratty and Fellows each stole a base.

Uhing and the Panther defense left 10 Barons stranded on base.

Game Two: Franciscan 3, Pitt-Bradford 0

Franciscan got all the offense it would need in the first as the Barons scored three quick runs, two of which on a two-run homer.

Pitt-Bradford threatened in the fourth as Betty Fratercangelo led off with a walk and moved over on a Dadzaa single. But two-straight outs left two runners stranded and the Franciscan 3-0 lead held.

With one aboard in the bottom of the fifth, the Panther defense escaped with an inning-ending double play.

East singled with two away in the sixth but was unable to score.

Into the seventh, Fellows singled with two down to extend the game but she was left at first as Franciscan held on for the shutout victory.

Samantha Hribal started in the circle and threw two innings before turning the ball over to Kerrigan Hoffmann, who threw four scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and struck out one.

Up next, the Panthers will travel to D'Youville for the final two road contests of the 2018 regular season.