GROVE CITY, Pa. - On Monday, Softball traveled to the Wolverines of Grove City College for a double header. Softball was looking to build off of yesterday's sweep vs W&J. Grove City defeated Chatham in both games, 6-3 in game one and 8-4 in game two.

In game one, the Wolverines struck first in the second inning. Cougar starting pitcher Victoria Murren walked the first three batters of the inning but managed to only give up two of the runs. Grove City got one more across in the third to extend their lead to 3-0. In the fourth, the Cougars got in the scoring column with two runs of their own. After Sophomore Irene Martin walked to lead off the inning, Grad Savanna Ahlborn brought around Martin on a double to left center. Two batters later, Victoria Murren helped her cause by singling up the middle to advance Ahlborn the third base. Later in the same inning, Freshman Cloe Lopez who just recently returned from injury walked to bring home another run for the Cougars. Chatham was able to tie the game up in the fifth. With one out in the fifth, Irene Martin hit her fourth homerun of the season to even up the score at 3-3. The Wolverines had strong responses in the bottom of the fifth and sixth. They scored one in the fifth to regain the lead, and grabbed two more key insurance runs in the sixth. Chatham was unable to score in the seventh to make the game one final 6-3 in favor of Grove City. 

Cougar starting pitcher Victoria Murren eclipsed the 100 strikeout mark on the season. The Cougars had four hits in the contest. Two of those off the bat of Irene Martin who was 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

In game two, again it was Grove City who scored first. This time the Wolverines scored in the opening frame as Cougar starting pitcher Sophomore Hannah Chenault gave up her only run in three innings in which was unearned. Things stayed at 1-0 in favor of Grove City until the fourth. Martin continued her tremendous day by leading off with a single. After advancing on a fielder's choice and a throwing error, Sophomore Kayleen Garcia's fielder's choice scored Martin. The game wouldn't stay knotted up at 1-1 for long. Grove City responded in the bottom half with a run to regain the lead. In the fifth, the Cougars rallied and put up a three spot to give Chatham a 4-2 lead. Hannah Chenault doubled to bring home Grad Kyley Fijalkowski, and Sophomore Ciera Jimenez's single thru the right side brought home two runners. The Wolverines got a run back in the bottom of the fifth to inch closer as they trailed 4-3 after five innings. The Cougars were unable to score in the final two innings and Grove City's five-run sixth inning was the deciding factor in game two. Chatham dropped game two 8-4. 

Both teams tallied eleven hits in game two. Seven of the Cougar hits came from Irene Martin (4-4, 2 R) and Hannah Chenault (3-4). Martin ends the day 6-8 (.750, HR) as she now leads the team in batting average (.353), and is now tied for the team-lead in extra base hits with Isabelle Griswold.

With the two losses, Softball moves to 7-21 (3-9) on the 2024 season. They have an off-day tomorrow and then will host the middle of the pack Bethany Bison on Wednesday. Those games are lined up for 6:30 and 8:30 PM start times.