ERIE, Pa. – A senior celebrated Senior Day with a home run, and a sophomore pitcher continued her recent hot streak as the Gannon softball team won Game 1 of a doubleheader split with Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday afternoon.
Lily Gfeller (Livonia, N.Y./Livonia) hit an opposite-field home run, and
Maggie Lenda (East Aurora, N.Y./Iroquois) earned her second complete-game pitching victory of the weekend as the Golden Knights won 3-1 in Game 1 at McConnell Family Stadium. The Mountain Cats bounced back to win Game 2 by a 6-1 score.
Gannon honored five seniors before Game 1: Gfeller,
Lea Coffman (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell),
Lauryn Rougeux (Erie, Pa./McDowell),
Angela Vicini (Perry, Ohio/Perry), and
Andrea Watson (Venus, Pa./Cranberry Area). Four of the five players started the opening game while Rougeux is out for the remainder of the season with an injury.
Gannon, which is in the middle of the PSAC West playoff race, moved to 13-19 overall and 12-8 in the PSAC West. Pitt-Johnstown is now 11-23 and 6-16.
Game 1:
Gannon 3, UPJ 1: Gfeller homered, and Lenda pitched a four-hitter while helping the Golden Knights to the victory.
Gfeller belted a solo home run to right-center field in the second inning to give Gannon a 1-0 lead. GU held that lead until the fifth inning when UPJ tied the score on an RBI single by Emilia Santiago.
In the bottom of the inning, freshman shortstop
Ashley Fox (Cowansville, Pa./Karns City) manufactured a run for Gannon. She walked and stole second base. Gfeller then advanced Fox to third base on a groundout. Fox then came home on a wild pitch to give GU a 2-1 lead.
Jules Ryan (Collegeville, Pa./Spring Ford) and
Abbey Girman (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) combined to give Gannon an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Ryan singled up the middle and eventually advanced to third on two wild pitches. Girman then singled through the left side to drive home Ryan.
Lenda (7-5) was coming off a five-hit shutout on Friday in a 1-0 victory over IUP in Game 1 of a doubleheader. She looked nearly as impressive on Saturday as she ran her scoreless streak to 11 innings before allowing a lone run in the fifth inning.
Lenda did not allow a hit until the fifth and finished with a four-hitter while striking out seven and walking one.
Game 2:
UPJ 6, Gannon 1: Julia Mooney had two RBIs singles and Tori Radvan added a three-run double for Pitt-Johnstown. Kayla Miehl also homered.
Gannon scored its only run in the third inning when the Knights loaded the bases and
Josie Spano (Hudson, Ohio/Western Reserve Academy) hit a sacrifice fly to score
Lynn Porter (Hanover, Mass./Ardrey Kell).
Gabi Vasi (Tonawanda, N.Y./Kenmore East) (5-8), who took the pitching loss, had a triple for Gannon. Watson, Coffman, and Girman also had hits.
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