Box Scores: Game 1 / Game 2

Millersville, Pa. — Casey Coker's first home run of the season helped power the Millersville softball team to a 7-3 lead in game two and the Marauders held off a furious Slippery Rock rally in the seventh to come up with a 7-6 victory and a split of Saturday afternoon's doubleheader. The Rock was trying to duplicate its come-from-behind, 6-5, game one victory.

The Marauders (17-22) answered a two-run first from The Rock (19-14) in the nightcap with three runs of their own. RBI groundouts from Kelly Fitzgerald and Anna Libby got the Black and Gold on the board and left the bases empty for Coker, who slammed her first home run of the year to straight away center for the early 3-2 lead.

Millersville extended the lead to 4-2 on an Ally Homa groundout in the second and the Marauders made it 7-3 in the fifth courtesy of a Jamie Motsko RBI double and a wild pitch by SRU pitcher Amy Erickson that allowed two runs to score.

Slippery Rock got itself back in the game in the top of the seventh. Three straight walks set the table for Natalie Atkinson's bases-clearing double, and put The Rock down a run at 7-6. Courtney Eckman (6-6), who earned the win, was called upon to practically save her own game. Eckman, who gave way over the middle innings to Alicia Hughes and Lisa Rich, finished the game off in interesting fashion. A Whitney Warmus grounder went right to Motsko, who was interfered with by pinch-runner Cinnamon Monteville. Monteville was called out on the play to end the ballgame.

Eckman threw 4.2 innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out two. Hughes did a nice job in relief by giving up just a pair of hits and registering a strikeout in 2.1 innings.

Coker and Sarah Signore both had two hits and two runs scored on the afternoon, while Motsko and Lindsay Hosier joined the hit parade with two apiece. In all, the Marauders racked up 11 hits off of three SRU pitchers. Lindsay Grace (6-8) took the loss, as she was responsible for three Millersville runs. Grace didn't make it through an out in the second inning before being relieved by Erickson.

It looked as if Millersville would leave its home field with a doubleheader sweep, but another late comeback by The Rock derailed that plan.

Signore and Fitzgerald each had three hits and Millersville —training 3-0 in the fourth— turned the tide with five runs over innings four, five, and six. Down a pair of runs and at the dish, Signore found the gap in left-center for a two-run two-out double that knotted the game at three.

An error by Slippery Rock allowed Signore to score with the go-ahead run a short time later. Libby gave the Black and Gold a two-run cushion in the sixth when she drove in Keena Elbin with a double that hit off the base of the wall in left field.

Natalie Atkinson was the comeback culprit in game one, however. After a Millersville error kept the inning alive, Atkinson laced a two-run double to left field that tied the game at five, and SRU scored the winning run when its next batter, Warmus, doubled home Atkinson.

Signore (6-8), who also pitched for the Marauders, had her solid afternoon spoiled in suffering the loss. The junior allowed only two earned runs of the six that crossed the plate. She struck out three Rock batters to move within four of the 100-strikeout plateau for the season. If she can come up with four more, she'll be the first Marauder pitcher to eclipse 100 strikeouts in a season since Kristin Heberlig rang up 103 batters in 2004. Eclipsing Heberling's 103 strikeouts would also give Signore the second-most strikeouts in a season in program history.

Also chasing a bit of history, Hosier stole two more bases on the afternoon. She's now at 23 and needs three more to break Meghan Sinback's single-season record.

The Marauders are home again on Sunday for a non-conference doubleheader with Holy Family. Game one begins at noon.