Harrisonburg, Va. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford softball team completed a tough opening weekend on Sunday afternoon, falling twice to Eastern Mennonite University. They lost both games in 5 innings with the first finishing 12-4 and the second 9-1.

Game One:

• The Panthers fell behind early in the first frame as starting pitcher Ashley Stein loaded the bases on a walk and two hit batters before recording an out. The Monarchs were able to take advantage of the free passes scoring 3 runs in the inning on a sacrifice fly, single, and ground out.
• Pitt-Bradford was able to score a run in the second to begin chipping away at the Eastern Mennonite lead. Lexi Peters led off the inning with a double to left and moved to third when the outfielder for the Monarchs made an error on the play. The next to batters were unable to bring her home, but Chloe Cordova delivered a clutch two-out single back up the middle to make the score 3-1. The Panthers were unable to hold onto the momentum for long, however, as the Monarchs were able to hit a two-out three-run home run off Stein to push the lead to 5. 
• After a 1-2-3 inning or the Panthers, Kindra Wessels moved into the pitching circle but did not fare much better than Stein as she was quickly touched u for 5 runs on 5 hits and an error in the 3rd. 
• Down 11-1, the Panthers were able to push two runs across in the 4th. Daytona Wentzel led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Lexi Peters single to center. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch and Paige Wertheimer loaded the bases when she reached on a fielders choice that did not record an out. With one down, Wentzel was able to scamper home on a passed ball, and Peters scored when Cordova grounded out to second base. EMU was able to get one of the runs back in the bottom half on one hit and one error.
• The Panthers were able to add one more run in the 5th and threatened to extend the game into another inning, but were only able to score the single run. Dolcey Shunk hit a lead-off single to center and then moved all the way around two batters later when Wentzel reached on an error in left field. 

Lexi Peters finished the game 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. Chloe Cordova went 1 for 2 with two runs batted in and Dolcey Shunk added the final hit for the Panthers. Ashley Stein (0-1) picks up the loss after allowing 6 earned runs in two innings pitched. She struck out one batter. Kindra Wessels also pitched two innings, allowing 6 runs, 5 earned, on 6 hits, and a walk. She struck out two.

Game Two:

• The Panthers entered the second game of the day with Lindsay Steele in the circle and were able to move into the second inning unblemished as she was able to strand two runners with back-to-back strikeouts in the first. She was unable to maintain this in the second, as the Monarchs quickly scored 4 runs to take the lead. Steele got the leadoff batter to ground out, ut then allowed four straight hits, three singles, and a double, to break open the score. After getting a pop-up for the second out, the fourth run of the inning was able to score on a wild pitch before Steele induced a final groundout to end the inning.
• The Panthers threatened to score in the 3rd as KT Marx led off by legging out an infield single and moved to second on a Shunk sacrifice bunt. Unfortunately, the Panthers were not able to break momentum as the next two batters were retired on a fly ball and ground out to end the inning.
• EMU took advantage of this in the bottom of the third, as they quickly put up another 4 runs in the frame. Steele allowed the four runs on 4 hits 1 Pitt-Bradford error and a walk. Steele did limit the damage, however, as all four runs scored before an out was recorded. She retired the final three batters of the inning on a pop-up to third, and fly balls to center and right.
• Pitt-Bradford was able to break up the shutout in their half of the 4th. Wentzel started the inning by drawing a leadoff walk and moved to second on another single to center from Peters. After a strikeout, Kindra Wessels was able to beat out a potential inning-ending double-play ball, which allowed Wentzel to score on the throw to first.
• The Monarchs were able to make up the lead on 3 hits in their half of the 4th and retired the Panthers in order in the 5th to end the contest.

Pitt-Bradford was only able to muster two hits in the game, as Lexi Peters and Katie Marx each hit singles. Daytona Wentzel scored the lone run. Lindsay Steele (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing 9 earned runs in 4.0 innings pitched. She struck out 3 batters.

Pitt-Bradford falls to 0-4 on the young season with the sweep. They will have the rest of the week off to regroup from the weekend before heading to Fort Myers, Fla. for their Spring Break trip. The Panthers will play 12 games over a 7-day stretch beginning with a matchup against Albion on Monday, March 7th.