After suffering a tough, 4-3, loss in Friday's opener at Clarion, the Pitt-Johnstown softball team saw four players drive in two runs and got a complete game from
Tori Radvan to keep its PSAC Tournament hopes alive with an 8-2 victory over the Golden Eagles in game two. The Mountain Cats are now 17-20 overall and 5-9 in the PSAC West.
In the opener, Pitt-Johnstown broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the fourth.
Carly Santillo singled and moved to second on a passed ball, and
Laura Fox entered the game as a pinch runner. After
Tori Radvan was hit by a pitch,
Maddie Flowers delivered a two-run double to left-center, and
Julia Mooney followed with an RBI double to right field.
Clarion cut it to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Hannah Norton and a sacrifice fly from Alyssa Stitt.
The Golden Eagles then scored two in to bottom of the seventh to walk-off with the 4-3 win. Brook Cline singled and Makenzie Wolfe walked with one out. After a Mountain Cat error loaded the bases, Stitt drove home Cline and Wolfe with a base hit to left.
Mountain Cat starter
Julie Shinavski held the Golden Eagles to just two runs on five hits over the first five innings.
Kayla Miehl suffered the loss and slipped to 2-4 after allowing two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings in relief of Shinavski.
Santillo went 2-for-3, and Flowers doubled and drove home two to lead Pitt-Johnstown. Mooney added a double and an RBI, and
Lauren Gohacki had a base hit.
Stitt had two hits and three RBI for the Golden Eagles.
Clarion's Amber Gilliam picked-up the win in relief of starter Kendyl Switzer. Gilliam held Pitt-Johnstown scoreless on one hit over the final 3.1 innings.
In game two, Mooney led off the top of the third with a double and scored on Fox's double to center, before
Taylor Mendicino's RBI single to center scored Fox to give Pitt-Johnstown a 2-0 lead.
The Mountain Cats scored two more in the fourth on
Cassidy Kern's two run single that plated Flowers and Haliei Markee.
The Golden Eagles scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth, but Pitt-Johnstown broke it open with four runs in the sixth. Miehl and Radvan each singled to start the inning, and Mooney drove both home with a double to center. Fox followed with an RBI ground out that allowed Mooney to score, and Kern, who reached on a base hit, scored on a Clarion fielding error to increase it to 8-1.
Clarion used a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to set the final at 8-2.
Mooney had a pair of doubles and two RBI, and Kern collected two this and drove in two for Pitt-Johnstown. The Mountain Cats also got a double and two RBI from Fox and a base hit and two RBI from Mendicino. Santillo and Miehl chipped-in two hits apiece in Pitt-Johnstown's 12-hit game.
Radvan went the distance and raised her record to 2-7 after holding Clarion to just two unearned runs on six hits. She fanned five and walked three.
With the split, the Golden Eagles are now 5-32 overall and 4-10 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown will close out the 2022 regular season and recognize seven seniors prior to Saturday's PSAC Western Division doubleheader against Indiana (PA). Game times are scheduled for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at V.E. Erickson Complex.
