BECKLEY, W.Va. -- Point Park University softball opened up its River Conference schedule on Friday with two wins at WVU Tech. The Pioneers won 7-5 and 4-2 in eight innings to extend their win streak to five in a row. Point Park (8-6, 2-0 RSC) has now won six of its last seven games.
The RSC this year will included two doubleheaders -- one home and one away -- versus each team in the RSC East Division. WVU Tech (11-10, 0-2 RSC) is one of the four other teams in the division. There will also be one doubleheader versus each of the five teams in the RSC West Division.
With Friday's wins, the Pioneers took the first two games of the season series versus the Golden Bears, who will be coming to Point Park April 15. The top three teams in each division make the RSC postseason.
POINT PARK 7, WVU TECH 5
The Pioneers faced an early deficit of 2-0 after the first inning of Game 1. But the Pioneers had some big hits to later go up, 5-2. Melanie Taylor's RBI triple and Hailey Leitner's run-scoring single tied up the game at 2-2 in the second.
Taylor Goldstrohm gave Point Park the lead for good with a three-run double in the fifth. That made the score 5-2 for one of Goldstrohm's two hits in the game.
Angalee Beall went the distance in the circle to get the win. She held on to the lead the rest of the way despite WVU Tech cutting it to 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth.
The Pioneers got a couple of insurance runs in the top of the seventh on Carissa Scekeres' RBI single and Alex Bondi's sacrifice bunt that brought in a run. Scekeres had a pair of hits. Goldstrohm had started the inning with a base hit and a stolen base.
Beall finished off the game and ended up with five strikeouts and two walks. She scattered nine hits and stranded six runners on base. The tying run got to the plate in the last of the seventh, but Beall got a fly out.
POINT PARK 4, WVU TECH 2
The Pioneers went extra innings to win the second game and make it a doubleheader sweep. Each team scored a run in its half of the first inning, but the game remained 1-1 through the regulation seven innings.
Taylor Goldstrohm led off the game with a single. WVU Tech tried to get Goldstrohm returning to first base during the next at bat, but the throw got away as Goldstrohm moved up to second on an error by the catcher. Two batters later, Angalee Beall singled home Goldstrohm for the early lead.
Jada Simon pitched all 8.0 innings for Point Park. She gave up an RBI double to Justice in the bottom of the first, but she blanked the Golden Bears for the next six innings as the game went into extras.
In the top of the eighth, Cameron Meier gave the Pioneers a great start with a lead-off double. Hailey Leitner was called upon to pinch hit, and she bashed a two-run homer for the eventual winning runs.
Goldstrohm was at it again for an insurance run. With two outs in the eighth, she was hit by a pitch, moved to second on an error, stole third and raced home on an error by the catcher.
Simon closed out the game despite a solo homer by Justice, who was the only hitter to do any damage for WVU Tech. Simon struck out three and gave up eight hits. She kept the runs to a minimum by walking none.
UP NEXT
Point Park will travel to Siena Heights (Mich.) on March 22 for an NAIA, non-conference matchup. The home openers come after that with a matchup versus Midway (Ky.) on March 25.
