Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Shippensburg University softball team capped off a successful road trip with a split on Saturday at Hancock Park – falling to Merrimack 3-2 before earning a 10-0 victory over Slippery Rock in five innings.

SU won six of eight games in Florida, and including its games in Salem, finished its eight-day road trip with an 11-2 record.

Shippensburg (17-4) got a splendid start against Merrimack from sophomore Makenzie Lynn – who struck out a career-high 11 batters in six innings. Seven of Lynn's strikeouts were looking. She allowed six hits and walked just one – with her only major mistake being a two-run home run in the sixth inning off the bat of Jaclyn Giovannini.

The Raiders had trouble against the Warriors getting runners in from scoring position – hitting just 2-for-14 as a team in such situations and left 12 runners on base. At least one runner was left on base in six of the seven innings, including the bases loaded in the fifth and the seventh.

Against The Rock, however, SU had the first eight runners reach base in the third inning to break open a 2-0 game into a 10-0 rout. Sophomore Liz Parkins took advantage of the run support to improve her record to 6-0, allowing just two hits and striking out five in five shutout innings.

Senior Kiersten Darhower was 3-for-6 with a walk, three runs scored and a stolen base. In 11 games on the road trip, Darhower was 20-for-45 (.444) at the plate with eight RBIs, nine stolen bases and 12 runs. Sophomore Tyler Thompson and sophomore Taylor Weisman also had three hits combined from the doubleheader.

Shippensburg returns to action next Saturday with its home and PSAC Eastern Division opener – a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Kutztown from Robb Field.

Game 1: Merrimack 3, Shippensburg 2

In a 2:07 marathon of a game that featured a multitude of substitutions by both teams, Merrimack took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an unearned run. A two-out single and an error on the same play put a runner on second base, and a blooper over third base on the next play allowed the runner to score.

SU took the lead in the fifth on a RBI-single by Weisman and a bases-loaded walk by senior Jenn Deardorff. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Giovannini homered on the first pitch after a single by Tawny Palmieri (3-for-3).

The Raiders loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but a fielder's choice and a groundout ended the game.

Game 2: Shippensburg 10, Slippery Rock 0

SU opened the scoring in the first inning on a two-run single by sophomore Maddie Justice but left two more runners on base after a pair of strikeouts.

The Raiders broke the game open with its decisive third inning. Junior Rachel Shumway and Weisman led off with singles before Justice walked. A bases-loaded walk by sophomore Emmie Burke made the score 3-0, and resulted in The Rock changing pitchers.

A wild pitch made it 4-0 and prefaced consecutive RBI-singles by freshman Taylor Llewellyn, junior Hilary Lyons, freshman Briana Giovenco and Darhower to make it an 8-0 game. Thompson then brought in a run on a groundout and Weisman smacked an RBI-double to cap off the eight-run inning.

All nine starters reached base at least once versus The Rock, with eight getting hits.