Westminster 11, Franciscan 3 - 7 Innings
 
Franciscan Lineup
Chloe Cross C, Rachel Cooper CF, Kimberly McDaniels P, Jenny Massey LF, Elizabeth Gibson 1B, Ariana Arnone 3B, Alexis McKnight DP, Felicia MacGillivray RF, Brooklynn Miller SS, & Lilly Wahl 2B

Westminster Lineup
Yates SS, Atkins CF, Pancake C, Latess 1B, Gurley RF, Meholick 3B, Lewis DP, Brown P, Wire LF,  & Greco 2B
 
How It Happened
    Franciscan Softball has never beat Westminster. Coming into the double header, Westminster was 26-3 overall, and 13-1 sitting atop as #1 in the PAC. The Barons had a rough start to game 1, but had a flurry of successful bats to take down the Titans in game 2. 
    In the first inning, the Barons committed an error allowing Titan's Atkins to get on base. The Titans hit a double a couple batters later scoring their first run. In the top of the second inning, the Barons allowed only 1 hit and left the runner on base. In the bottom of the inning, Ariana Arnone hit a single straight up the middle. The ball took a well-timed bounce in the dirt just in front of the second baseman. The ball went over her head into center field allowing Arnone to reach first safely. McKnight was at the plate next and tried to push the third base gap, but the Titans were able to scoop it up and throw her out at first to close the inning. 
    The third inning is when the Barons dug a hole. Two early errors in the inning put them in a tough spot. The second out of the inning was a rocket straight at Ariana Arnone at third base. Arnone both twisted sideways to guard herself while also catching it below her right hip. The next batter grounded out, and the Barons closed out the tough inning that could have ended much worse. The scored 5 runs, but had two more runners in scoring position. 
    At the end of the 4th inning the Barons were down 8-0. Coach McKnight put Ariana Arnone into pitch her first career attempt in the circle. Arnone had a shaky start throwing a few pitches into the dirt, but Chloe Cross was on top of it and covered them up. The first Titan batter hit a single to center field. The next two batters reached on base due to an error and a fielder's choice to throw the first batter out at third. Arnone was in a sticky spot for her first career pitching attempt. With one out and runners on first and second, Titan's Holden...STRUCK OUT LOOKING. A great series in the circle, and an acceptable one for Arnone to take a brief moment and celebrate her first career strikeout. Next batter walked and another grounded out to second base. Arnone came in against a red hot Titans batting club, and closed the top of the 5th with only 1 hit allowed. In the bottom of the 5th the Barons finally found their bats. Alexis McKnight had the lead off single to left field. Coach sent Janie Bryner in to pinch run for McKnight. Felicia MacGillivray reached first off the second baseman dropping the grounder. Brooklynn Miller hit a deep double to left field. Bryer ran in from second and MacGillivray advanced to third. Chloe Cross followed her up with another deep double right back at the left fielder. Both Miller and MacGillivray scored. A flurry of hits for the Barons and they were on the board 8-3. The Titans held the Barons while adding a few more runs of their own before the close of the seventh inning. The Barons had some exciting moments and glimmers of success to build on and hope for a better showing game 2.

At the Plate
-Chloe Cross was at the top of the order and went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI's
-Jenny Massey was 1 for 3
-Elizabeth Gibson was 1 for 3
-Ariana Arnone was 2 for 3
-Alexis McKnight was 1 for 3
-Brooklynn Miller was 2 for 3 with 1 run and 1 RBI

In the Circle
-Starter Kimberly McDaniels pitched 6 innings allowing 4 earned runs, and registering 3 strikeouts off 35 at bats.
-Relief pitcher Ariana Arnone pitched 1 inning with 0 ER, 1 hit, and 1 strikeout.
 

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Franciscan 6, Westminster 2 - 7 Innings
 
Franciscan Lineup
Chloe Cross 1b, Rachel Cooper CF, Kimbelry McDaniels SS, Jenny Massey LF, Elizabeth Gibson C, Ariana Arnone 3B, Alexis McKnight DP, Felicia MacGillivray RF, Brooklynn Miller 2B, & Lily Wahl P

Westminster Lineup
Wire LF, Atkins CF, Pancake C, Latess B, Meholick 3B, Gurley RF, Greco 2B, Malczak P, Yates SS, Eisenhuth DP
 
How It Happened
   Game 1 was a tough loss for the Barons. There were many moments of greatness, and they would need to string a bunch of those together to contend with the Titans. At the top of the order, enter Chloe Cross. Cross smashed a single to right field to lead off the game. Rachel Cooper followed with a single to third. Kimberly McDaniels reached first after the Titans threw Cross out at third. Jenny Massey hit a single over the center fielder advancing McDaniels to second, but Cooper saw the light and beat the throw at home to score the first run. Elizabeth Gibson then hit a single to the left fiedler loading the bases. Ariana Arnone drove the ball deep to right field. It seemed like a routine catch, but the power of Arnone's hit caused the ball to push through the top of the fielder's glove and onto the ground. The dugout screamed to the runners, Massey and McDaniels took off and both made it home. The Barons were now leading 3-0. Alexis McKnight grounded to the SS who threw her out at first, but failed to freeze Gibson sitting at third. Gibson ran home as the ball was thrown to first and scored. Felicia MacGillivray singled to right field scoring Arnone. MacGillivray then stole second base. Brooklynn Miller then singled to left field, MacGillivray was approaching third as the Titans threw toward first. It was clear the onslaught of hits had them thunderstruck, so why not send her home. Home! MacGillivray rounded third and didn't even need to slide to score the Barons 6th and final run for the inning. The bottom of the 1st was one of the most active innings this season. To recap, that's 10 batters at the plate, 8 batters on base, 6 hits, and 6 runs. An exciting inning, but the ultra-talented Titans were far from done. The Barons needed to lock down and hold onto this lead.
    In the second inning, the Titans led off with a solo homer, but Lily Wahl wasn't phased. Wahl struck the next batter out swinging. A ground out then a big catch in front of the fence from Rachel Cooper retired the inning 6-1. In the third, the Titans got one more. They were consistently getting bats on balls and it seemed that they were going to steadily eat away at the lead. 
    Cliche football coaches like to proclaim "bend but don't break" wisdom in games like this, and that is exactly how the Barons closed this game out. In the fourth, the Titan's tripled to right field. With only 1 out and a runner at third, it seemed like the lead was going to shrink a little bit more. Elizabeth Gibson ran down a foul ball, then Felicia MacGillivray made a diving catch on a line drive deep to right field to close the inning. 
    The Barons continued making play after play to hold onto their lead. In the 6th, Brooklynn Miller, the traditional shortstop, slipped going for a ground ball. Miller did the splits to reach and grab the ball. She then made an athletic throw from the ground toward first. In the 7th, Ariana Arnone, third base, had a runner on third. Arnone picked up a grounder right at her. As she wound up to throw she stopped to turn, look, and freeze the runner at third. This heads up play prevented the runner from advancing and scoring, and was a great play to culminate 7 innings of hyper-focused Barons.
    The victory marks the first time the Barons have beat the Titans. Coach McKnight had this to say about his team, "We had another very good win today. Westminster only had one conference loss until today. The team jumped out to an early lead and Lilly Wahl pitched extremely well. I have been telling the team all year they can compete against anyone and they proved it the last two days. Go Barons!"

At the Plate
-Chloe Cross led the order batting 1 for 4
-Rachel Cooper was 2 for 3 scoring 1 run
-Kimberly McDaniels was 1 for 4 scoring 1 run
-Jenny Massey was 2 for 4 with 1 run and 1 RBI
-Elizabeth Gibson was 2 for 4 with 1 run
-Ariana Arnone 1 for 4 with 2 RBI's and 1 run
-Felicia MacGillivray was 2 for 3 with 1 RBI and scoring 1 run
-Brooklynn Miller was 2 for 3 with 1 RBI

In the Circle
-Starter Lily Wahl pitched 7 innings allowing only 7 hits and 2 earned runs, while registering 4 strikeouts on 28 at bats.

Up Next
Softball returns to action at Washington & Jefferson on Thursday, as they will have one day to rest and recover before four games to conclude the season on Saturday. The Lady Barons battled the Presidents in two close games last season, but were unable to come out on top. Hopefully this year will be different, as they look to finish the season strong. 

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