The Yellow Jackets evened up their conference record against Chatham with a pair of wins.

This past Tuesday, the Yellow Jacket softball team picked up two wins in its double header against Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Chatham. The Jackets now move to 10-10 overall and have also worked their conference record back to 3-3.

Game one was an 8-0 win for the Yellow Jackets. The majority of the offense came in the second inning with hits from junior Cat Allstatt, sophomores Ashley Dubovich and Rachel Skon and freshman Marlee Ott.

Head coach Richele Hall was pleased with the performance in the inning and believes the women did well fulfilling the roles they held.

“We hit very well, [Allstatt] was a big spark to our offense today,” said Hall. “[The] nice thing about this team is everyone chips in and does their part, which is very nice. When our bats are hot, it is hard to get us out. It is nice when we are rolling, I used a couple pinch runners and they were able to come around and score. It was a very nice inning for us.”

Ott would go on to score later in the game, contributing two runs to the Jackets win.

“[Ott] is doing a really good job, she is heating up at the right time,” said Hall. “She is a very talented slapper, and she was struggling at the beginning of the year with timing, but she is starting to come around and do well for us in conference play.”

Dubovich tallied a hit later in the game, finishing 2 for 3 in game one and scoring once.

“[Dubovich] is very consistent for us,” said Hall. “She always puts the ball in play hard for us and I can count on her for [anything from] a base hit to hitting it so hard it might hit into a defender.”

In game two, the Jackets picked up where they left off in the first game on offense to back up a stellar pitching performance from junior Courtney Messenger, who threw both games for Waynesburg. She tossed 12 innings and notched six strikeouts without allowing a run during the doubleheader.

“[Messenger] sometimes leaves me speechless,” said Hall. “The first game was a five-inning game and she only threw 51 pitches in it, [being] very efficient with the batters. [Because of that], it was a no brainer for me to go back to her for game two with us not playing again until Friday. She gave up ten hits total on the day with five in each game—Chatham wasn’t able to string anything together.”

Waynesburg’s offense continued in the second game as the Jackets picked up one run in the second on a Skon sacrifice fly that scored freshman Tara Staley. The Jackets added two more runs in the fifth to secure a 3-0 victory over the Cougars.

Allstatt went 3 for 3 in game two, scoring once in the fifth inning to add to the Waynesburg total.

“[Allstatt] has been really steady for us this year and she is batting around .500 for us now on the season,” said Hall. “She doesn’t try to do too much and that is what I like about her. Both of her hits [might] be singles but she knows what we need from her and she produces.”

The Yellow Jackets have fought their way back to an even record with a lot of softball left to be played. The Jackets are in the upper half of the PAC with an opportunity to make a push for a PAC title.

“Our biggest thing is that we have played two of three teams that are ahead of us in conference as we are sitting in fourth place,” said Hall. “We already played Westminster and Saint Vincent, and we have Thomas More coming up on Friday and that’s going to be a challenge but we’re definitely up for it.”

Waynesburg will host Thomas More on Friday for a double header starting at 3:30 p.m.