Beaver Beaver Drops Two Games Against Grove City

By: Evan Pinchot 

Monaca, Pa -- The Penn State Beaver softball team hosted the girls of Grove City College for a non-conference doubleheader. Beaver comes into their games today still unbeaten at home as the team looks to keep it this way after coming off of their best game this season. 

Game one on the day was a rough one for Beaver, as they were shutout through 6 innings of play. Grove City really took control of the game from the start, as they scored nearly every innings and took advantage of a sloppy Beaver team. What really hurt Beaver in this game was their lack of offense, as the team only managed to scrape up 3 hits against Grove City's impressive pitching. After 6 innings, Beaver would lose game one by a final score of 10-0. 

The second game on the day showed a mcuh more focused Beaver team, as they improved all around from their first game. Beaver was the first to get on the board in this one, as Sophomore Vanessa Jackson (Snohomish, WA / Snohomish) would drive in the game's first run with a hard hit double in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Grove City would end up tying the game up in the top of the 4th inning, but Beaver would answer back quickly as they would regain the lead off of a 2 run rally in the bottom half of the inning. Beaver would hold their lead until the top of the 6th inning, when Grove City would rally to score 2 runs of their own as tie the game up at 3-3. After a scoreless 7th inning from both teams, it would come down to extra innings to decide a winner. After Grove City scored two runs in the top of the 8th inning, Beaver would end up stranding two on base in the bottom half of the inning as they would lose a close one by a final score of 5-3. 

After their losing 2 games agianst Grove City, Beaver now sits at a 4-9 overall record. Beaver would struggle today for the first time at home in these games, looking very unfocused in their first game of the day. The team was led in their games today by Freshman Keasha Barz (Wintersville, OH / Stuebenville), who went 3-4 while scoring a run in the second game of the day. Beaver will play next on Thursday, March 20, at Penn State Mont Alto. The first game of the day will start at 2 p.m.