Point Park softball (1-5, 1-1 RSC) opened up River States Conference play at home with a 6-4 win over Ohio Christian University in the first game. The Pioneers fell 6-5 in the second match. Senior pitcher Angalee Beall allowed 11 hits and two walks on 32 batters faced in seven innings.

Ohio Christian got on the board first as they scored four runs in the first two innings. An OCU single turned into a run-batted-in to take a 1-0 lead. Senior outfielder Hilarie Spitler hit a homerun with two runners on base to snag a 4-0 advantage. The Pioneers defense held them scoreless after that, but PPU did not find their own runs until the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Senior outfielder Cameron Meier smashed a double to center field to score junior outfielder Mackenzie Moore and finally added a run to the board in the bottom of the fourth. Beall started the fifth inning with a double to left field with two ducks in the pond to trail 4-3. Leitner singled to center and scored Beall to tie the game at four apiece. Senior first baseman Aex Bondi roped a single to left field as freshman Raigan Chavez crossed the plate to grab a 5-4 advantage. Meier reached on a fielder’s choice while junior infielder Sydnie Reese scored a safety run to lead 6-4. Neither team scored in the innings that remained.

The Pioneers had 12 hits and six RBI’s in 30 at-bats. Beall had two stolen bases, three hits and two RBI’s. 

The visitors scored first in the second game after they put up a crooked number in the top of the first inning. Spitler and junior utility Roxianne Herdman scored for the Trailblazers and led 2-0 until the bottom of the third inning when Point Park crossed the plate. Sophomore infielder Melanie Taylor was safe at first thanks to an error by the shortstop and senior catcher Cristina Sargent scored an unearned run to make the score 2-1. 

Meier singled in the bottom of the fourth to score Moore. Sargent knocked a single to right field to score Meier and take the lead, 3-2. Point Park held Ohio Christian scoreless in the top of the fifth. 

Bondi hit a single to the left to push Reese to second while Taylor crossed the plate and extended their advantage, 4-2. An infield single from Meier advanced the runners and Reese scored an unearned run to lead 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth. 

Ohio Christian’s bats woke up in the top of the sixth inning and Point Park’s defense struggled to play clean as they allowed three unearned runs to tie the game up at five a piece. Senior utility Marissa Bardonaro hit a double to left field and pushed the base runners over and scored an unearned run. Freshman infielder Bailey Lyons singled to right field to move the runners and Herdman scored another unearned run to put the score at 5-4. Sophomore outfielder Karlee Steele knocked a single up the middle to score freshman utility Vanessa Metcalf and the Pioneers allowed another unearned run to make the score 5-5. 

Point Park did not score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore first baseman Lexi King roped a solo homerun in the top of the seventh inning to grab a 6-5 lead. The Pioneers could not muster up a run to push the game into extra innings, giving them their first loss in the RSC this season. 

Jada Simmons pitched all seven innings for the Pioneers. Simmons allowed nine hits and six runs — three of which were unearned. She had three strikeouts and gave up one homerun. 

The Pioneers had five RBI’s and ten hits in 31 at-bats. Bondi, Meier, Sargent and O’Neil had two hits each. Both of Meier’s hits were RBI’s. 

Point Park was scheduled to play a double-header against RSC foe WVU Tech on Sunday, March 19, but the games were postponed due to weather conditions in Kennedy Township, PA. The temperature was below 30 degrees, the minimum allowed to play, and the windchill was also below the 25 degree limit.

The double-header scheduled for April 3 against Penn-State Beaver in Beaver, PA has also been postponed. Both games’ make-up dates are to be determined.

The Pioneers next game is scheduled for April 21st at Fairhaven Park against Malone University. Game one is set for 3 p.m. and the second game will be played shortly after the first one finishes up.