The Shippensburg University softball team opened Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division play on Tuesday with a split at Shepherd, rebounding from a 3-2 loss in Game 1 with a 14-5 victory in five innings in Game 2 at Sara Cree Field.
 
Shippensburg (12-4, 1-1) ended up with 20 hits on the day, including five players with multiple hits. Shepherd (11-8, 1-1) out-hit the Raiders 7-6 in the opener.
 
Freshman Sarah Sabocsik finished the day 5-for-7 with a home run, four RBIs, three runs and a walk. She reached base in all four of her Game 2 plate appearances.
 
Senior Morgan Lindsay was 3-for-6 with a home run, four RBIs and a walk on the day. Sophomore Caitlyn Martell also had three hits overall.
 
Shippensburg continues its stretch of three road conference doubleheaders in five days at 2 p.m. Friday with a doubleheader at Bloomsburg.
 
Game 1: Shepherd 3, Shippensburg 2
 
The opener was a matchup of two exemplary pitchers with junior Alicia Ball facing Shepherd's rising star and reigning Eastern Division Pitcher of the Week, first-year Madelayne Ruffner.
 
The Raiders struck early, getting leadoff singles from senior Taylor Myers and Martell. With one out, Sabocsik singled home Myers to give Shippensburg a 1-0 lead.
 
In a 1-1 game in the fourth, senior Maelynn Leber hit what looked like it was going to be a foul out, but the ball was dropped, giving her new life. Leber then launched a ball over the left-field fence for a home run that gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead.
 
Shippensburg also got the first two runners on in the sixth inning but ultimately couldn't score.
 
In the third, Shepherd got its first run on an RBI-groundout. With the bases loaded and one out, Alex Mantz hit a ball into a drawn-in infield which senior Alyssa Nehlen made a diving play, ranging to her right and making the throw to first for the second out. It plated Lauren Moore, who had reached on an error.  
 
In the sixth, Moore singled home a run with one out to tie the score. Minney entered in relief to retire the next two hitters and keep the game tied 2-2. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Mantz sent a wall scraper over the center-field fence for a walk-off win for the Rams.
 
Ruffner scattered six hits and a walk while striking out 10 in a complete-game effort to improve her record to 8-0. It is Ruffner's seventh game with 10 or more strikeouts so far on the young season, and she has now struck out 100 batters through 59 innings.
 
Ball allowed just one earned run on six hits in 5.1 innings, walking one and striking out six.
 
Game 2: Shippensburg 14, Shepherd 5 (5 innings)
 
Shippensburg capitalized on five Ram errors to prolong innings and make the most of an offensive explosion that included five extra-base hits and nine singles. The Raiders had a five-run first inning and a six-run third inning to lead 12-2 early on.
 
Highlighting the first inning was a three-run homer by Lindsay, giving Shippensburg a 3-0 lead three batters in the game. The Raiders sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, plating additional runs on an RBI-groundout by Leber and an RBI-double by junior Katelyn Minney.
 
Sabocsik went 3-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs in the nightcap; she made it a 6-0 Raider lead in the second by hitting a full-count pitch over the right-field wall for a solo home run that capped off a seven-pitch at-bat.
 
With the score 6-2 entering the third, the Raiders doubled their run output. All six of Shippensburg's runs in the inning came with two outs and after a pair of Ram errors. The RBI hits included singles by Martell, Lindsay and Sabocsik and a double by freshman Brie Wilmot.
 
Freshman Reagan Bauman recorded her first collegiate hit in the fourth inning with a pinch-hit RBI-double, while sophomore Emilee Sullivan delivered an RBI-single in the fifth.
 
Freshman Madalyn Dyer got the win, working the necessary three innings in a five-inning finish. Dyer scattered three runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three. Sophomore Kaira Zamadics got the final six outs, yielding a pair of unearned runs.