BRADFORD, PA – Hilbert College Softball traveled to Bradford, Pa this evening for the team's final two AMCC regular season contests of the season. After a pair of defeats to the Pitt-Bradford Panthers, the Hawks wrapped up conference play with a 7-9 record which is good enough for the conference's sixth seed and a trip to the postseason.

Hilbert fell 4-2 in a tight game one as Samantha Heppel and Kaitlin Stolowski each drove in a run, while Kailey Stolowski went the distance in the circle allowing four earned runs over six innings of work.

In the night cap, the Panthers used a big third inning to take control of the game, before piling on runs in the fourth and fifth frames to earn the 13-4 victory. Heppel tacked on two more RBI and Jazlynn Soliz brought a runner home to round out the Hilbert offense for the evening. Alana Yadov and Kimberly Bentley each spent time in the circle for the Hawks, with the duo combining for three punchouts.

Game One: Hilbert 2 – Pitt-Bradford 4
Game Two: Hilbert 4 – Pitt-Bradford 13

Game One:

• After the Hawks went down in order in the top of the first, the Panthers opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the home half of the inning for a 2-0 advantage.
• Following a scoreless second inning by both teams, Hilbert scored two runs of their own in the top of the third to even the contest at two. Mackenzie Catan led off the inning with a double and eventually came around to score on an error to cut the lead in half, before Heppel's single scored Emily Lacki to make it a 2-2 game.
• However, Bradford responded immediately with two more runs in the bottom of the third to regain the two-run lead. Two straight singles, followed by a double to lead off the inning did the damage for the Panthers in the frame.
• Down 4-2, the Hawks struggled to get the offense going the rest of the way as Hilbert would be kept off the board in the remaining four innings to fall in game one of the doubleheader.

Game Two:

• Hilbert took leads in both the first and third innings of game two, but the Panthers used eleven runs over the final three frames to build and maintain a commanding advantage.
• After a double in the top of the first, Kaitlin Stolowski came around to score on an error to open up an early 1-0 lead for the Hawks. However, in the bottom of the inning, the Panthers brought home a pair to hold a 2-1 advantage after one inning.
• The teams once again played a scoreless second inning, before Hilbert used two third inning runs to regain the lead. Heppel's RBI single tied the game at two, before Soliz's single scored Heppel to make it a 3-2 Hilbert lead.
• The lead would be short-lived however, as Bradford produced five runs in the bottom of the third to make it 7-3, before adding two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend the lead to 9-3.
• The Hawks got a run back in the top of the fifth thanks to a Heppel RBI, but the Panthers continued the offense in the home half of the fifth with four more runs to end the evening early and take the sweep with the 13-4 victory.

Up Next

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE AMCC CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FORMAT CHANGE

Up next for the Hawks is the AMCC postseason tournament as the team heads to Bradford, Pa for the double elimination tournament May 9th - May 11th. 

The No. 6 Hawks will face No. 3 Pitt-Greensburg on May 9th at 10:00 am.

The winner of that game advances to a 2:00 pm game that same day against the No.2 seed, Mount Aloysius, but should the Hawks drop their 10 am game on Friday, they move to the Saturday, May 10th losers bracket game which will begin around 11:30 am.