Beaver Improves to 8-0 in Conference Play Over Mont Alto

By: Evan Pinchot

Monaca, Pa -- The Penn State Beaver softball team played host to the women of Penn State Mont Alto for a wednesday doubleheader. Beaver has played excepionally well this season in conference play, remaining unbeaten to this point in the season. The team comes into this game looking to carry their momentum over and add two more wins to their conference record.

Game one on the day was a battle between the two squads, as defense and pitching proved to be key early on. Beaver came out in the bottom of the first innings hitting well, putting up three runs on RBIs from three different player. Freshman Keasha Barz (Wintersville, OH / Stuebenville) knocked in the final run in that inning with a solid single, pushing Beaver's lead to 3-0 early on. From there on out, however, Beaver's bats fell silent as those were the only runs they would put up in this game. In the top of the fourth Mont Alto threatened to take the lead, as they would score two off of 2, two out hits. However that would be the only time they would threaten Beaver's lead as Beaver would go on to win the first game by a score of 3-2.

Game two of the doublehead was a much more exciting matchup between the two teams, as the bats would come alive for both sides. Once again Beaver would jump out to an early 3-0 lead that would hold until the third inning. In the top of the third inning Mont Alto would tie the game up at 3-3, just before the floodgates would open for Beaver. In the bottom half of the inning the team would tally seven runs on 5 hits and 3 errors by Mont Alto. Keasha Barz scored the first 3 runs that inning off of a solid double with the bases loaded. Freshman Lacey Weible (Hookstown, PA / South Side) would follow that up with a 2 RBI single of her own, as Beaver would jump out to a 10-3 lead. The rest of the game showed some life on both sides still, as Mont Alto would end up adding 4 more runs to their total, but it wouldn't matter as Beaver would end up taking home an impressive 12-7 win.

After sweeping Mont Alto at home, Beaver now improves their record to 8-9 overall while remaining an unbeaten 8-0 in conference play. The team was led today by strong performances by Freshman Keasha Barz, talllying 4 RBIs during the day, and Vanessa Jackson, who pitched in both games while tallying 3 RBIs in game two. The team will play next on Saturday, April 8, at home against Penn State Fayette. Game one will start at 3 p.m.