The Rock’s softball team started out their 2025 season with a bang, as Julia Montie homered in SRU’s fourth at-bat in what would end up a 5-4 victory at Shippensburg University earlier today.
The White and Green fell in the five-inning second game to the Raiders.
Game one
Arielle Brown and Montie both got their first hits out of the way early. The former smacked a leadoff single into right field before the latter brought both of them in to score with a two-run homer.
Alexsa Hurd kept things quiet from the circle until the fourth inning, when the Raiders did half of their damage by way of an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.
The senior two-way player racked up eight strikeouts by the end of her nine-inning game.
The game stayed knotted at two until some late-inning drama. The Rock took the lead back in the eighth when Naomi Childs was placed on second to start the inning, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Brown.
Shippensburg responded with one run of their own in the bottom of the frame.
It took some two-out magic for Slippery Rock to bring in the go-ahead and eventual winning run in the top of the ninth. After two strikeouts, an Emma Kennedy single, a Jeanna Sukey hit-by-pitch, and an Alyssa Sheely single put The Rock up 5-3.
Things got somewhat messy in the bottom of the ninth after a single and a hit-by-pitch put some traffic on the bases, but Hurd coaxed two strikeouts to end the game.
Game two
The White and Green played close through three and a half innings in the second game against the Raiders, but fell after a big bottom of the fourth inning.
Shippensburg put up one run apiece in the first and third frames before SRU punched back with another Julia Montie home run in the top of the fourth.
A few walks and errors in the bottom of the frame set up the Raiders for a big number and they capitalized to the tune of six runs, taking an 8-1 lead into the final inning.
SRU threatened to score in the top of the fifth after Jessica Goldhardt was hit by a pitch and stole second, followed by a walk to Brown, but neither came around to score.
Shippensburg tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth to force the run rule, ending the game 9-1.
Montie and Kennedy left the double-header tied with a team-leading two hits each. Montie also led with her two home runs, three runs scored and three runs batted in.
Brown, Sheely and Goldhardt all successfully stole a base in one try, leaving SRU a perfect three-for-three to start the year.
Slippery Rock softball returns to action Monday when they make up their double-header at Shepherd University that was originally scheduled for today.
