The Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets softball team traveled to Brooks Park in Washington, Pennsylvania to face their I-79 rival the Washington & Jefferson College Presidents.  

The Yellow Jackets lost both games by a single run to the Presidents. Game one was a 3-2 loss, and game two was a 4-3 loss to snap Waynesburg’s seven-game winning streak. 

“The team has to go back and reevaluate, and get better,” Waynesburg University head softball coach Brett Shimek said. “We’re tested every time we go out, we always get everybody’s best.” 

Game One 

Sydney Waryanka, Reigning Presidents’ Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Week went 2-4 in game one recording an RBI double in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game 2-2.  

“Having all homers and driving those 10 runs in felt surreal,” Waryanka said. “Getting Newcomer of the Week has made me feel like my hard work is starting to pay off.” 

However, Washington & Jefferson replied right back in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI triple by sophomore Hannah Allen to make it 3-2, which was the final score. 

“We just struggled to string together hits today,” Shimek said. “W&J did a good job of keeping us at bay at the plate.” 

Waynesburg University junior pitcher Sydney Wilson was handed her first loss of the season after a 7-0 start. Wilson pitched six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five Presidents. 

“We needed to support the pitching,” Waryanka said. “We simply did not bring the bats to the game and made too many defensive errors.” 

Game two 

Waynesburg University jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third when Ella Brookman hit a two-run home run to tie Amanda Baughman’s all-time RBI record (106) and closer to Brin Hunter’s record (152).  

Emma Bliss drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth to give Waynesburg a 3-2 lead and held it until the bottom of the seventh. 

“Our big thing is just consistency,” Shimek said. “We come out against Franciscan and score 21 runs and today we struggled to get base runners.” 

Washington & Jefferson College put two runners on with nobody out and a sacrifice fly from freshman Mirranda Rinehart scored the tying run, and an error throw by Waryanka in left field allowed sophomore Julia DiPietro-Harvey to score the game-winning run. 

“In general, we are still learning how to play together,” Shimek said. “We just need to get more reps and play a little bit better defensively.” 

What’s Next? 

The Waynesburg University softball team (14-7,5-3) will now go on to play six games across the next five days. Three doubleheaders are scheduled: Bethany College on Thursday, Geneva College on Saturday, and out-of-conference opponent Hiram College.  

“I feel like our goal with this busy upcoming schedule is to focus on picking each other up,” Waryanka said. “Another goal is to really strong the hits together as a team and score some runs.”