The Presbyterian College softball team rallied for two wins Saturday afternoon, using a grand slam by Erin Ruff to come back from a six-run deficit to take game one over Albany, 11-10, and then erasing an early 4-0 St. Bonaventure lead and earning a hard-fought 9-6 victory, in second day action of the JU Green and Gold Classic, being held Feb. 26-28, in Jacksonville, Fla.
PC improves to 6-4 and faces host Jacksonville Sunday, Feb. 28, at 2 p.m. Albany drops to 0-2, while St. Bonaventure moves to 1-7.
Game 1: PC 11, Albany 10
Albany came out firing in the top of the first, capitalizing on three PC errors and five hits, including a two-RBI double to right by Chelsea Henige, and a RBI double by Sarah Petzold, to make it an early 5-0 lead for the Danes.
After Kelsie Sanchez gave PC its first hit of the game, in the bottom of the first, Hope Rogers knocked her fifth home run of the year, this one over the center field wall, to bring her home and make it 5-2.
Albany responded in the top of the second with a RBI triple from Maggie Cocks, and then a two-RBI double by Mackenzie Cleary to jump the Danes' lead to 8-2.
After Sydney Seigler struck out three of five Albany batters in the top of the third, PC came back with two more in the bottom with yet another home run by Rogers, this one a two-run shot to left to make it an 8-4 lead for the Danes.
PC loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth off a walk, hit-by-pitch and another walk, with just one out on the board. After Megan Anderson drew a RBI walk to make it 8-5 Ruff came to the plate and hit a monster shot over left field wall for her third home run of the season and first grand slam to give PC its first lead of the game at 9-8.
After Kylie Young doubled to right the next at-bat, Jordan Ashley brought her home with a double down the left field line to give PC the 10-8 lead.
Albany threatened in the top of the fifth with a runner on first with one out, but Ruff caught a pop up and quickly threw it to Blaire Miller at first for the inning-ending double-play.
In the bottom of the fifth Sanchez added another run with her fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to give PC the 11-8 lead.
After a rare quiet inning for both teams in the sixth, Albany opened the top of the seventh with back to back doubles to bring in its ninth run. The Danes loaded the bases with two outs and got another run off an infield hit to the shortstop by Elizabeth Snow to make it 11-10. The Blue Hose defense held as the last batter flew out to center to end the game.
PC collected 10 hits and three errors, with Rogers getting two hits and four RBI, and Ruff getting four RBI off one hit. Sanchez collected three hits and one RBI. Albany came away with 15 hits, with several recording two hits apiece, including Cleary who had two RBI. Petzold paced the team with three hits and two RBI.
Seigler came in relief in the second inning, going 6.0 innings and giving up three earned runs off 11 hits with four strikeouts for the win (2-2). Caitlin Cooper went 3.2 innings for the loss (0-1). She surrendered 10 runs off six hits and struck out two.
Game 2: PC 9, St. Bonaventure 6
St. Bonaventure got on the board early in the game, scoring two in the top of the first when Emily McDonough stole home and Desiree Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. The Bonnies then added two more off a two-run PC error in the top of the second.
PC began to chip away in the bottom of the second with a Miller two-RBI single to right that made it 4-2.
The Blue Hose rallied in the bottom of the third with four runs to take the 6-2 lead. They came off a Rogers RBI single, a SBU error, and a two-RBI single from Rebekka Gross.
The Bonnies got a run back in the top of the fourth off a PC error, but The Blue Hose used a sacrifice fly by Kersten Legacki in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-5. Another sacrifice fly, this one by Miller, made it 8-5, but St. Bonaventure cut it to two again off a RBI single from Emily Belfield in the top of the sixth.
Gross came through again in the bottom of the sixth with a RBI single to give PC the 9-6 lead headed to the top of the seventh. SBU threatened in the top of the inning and put two runners on with two outs but the last batter grounded back to the pitcher to give PC the three-run win.
Katie Brown (3-1) threw a solid complete game, surrendering six earned runs off eight hits, with seven strikeouts. Josie Borysevicz took the loss for SBU (0-5), giving up three earned runs off 10 hits. PC had five errors in the game, St. Bonaventure six.
Gross paced PC with two hits and three RBI, with Miller collecting three RBI off one hit. For SBU, Belfield came away with one RBI off one hit, while McDonough and Morgan Phillips each had two hits on the afternoon.
