On Thursday afternoon, the Waynesburg University softball team split a non-conference doubleheader against University of Pitt Greensburg (UPG). 

The Yellow Jackets dropped game one 10-0 in five innings, but bounced back in game two with a walk-off hit by sophomore Rylee Rohbeck. 

“I took game one on me,” Waynesburg head coach Chris Brunson said. “I told the kids that, and then told them to get my back here in the second game and continue our magical season.”

Freshman pitcher Willow Eckles started game one, her first time pitching since March 5 when the team was in Myrtle Beach. Eckles went 1.2 innings, allowing six runs, two of which were unearned. 

Once UPG built its lead, they never looked back. The Bobcats scored five runs in the second inning, later scoring four in the fifth inning to enforce the run-rule. 

The Waynesburg offense put up seven hits and left eight runners on base.

Game two

It did not take the Yellow Jackets much time to score in the second game, as junior Jamie Kelly drove in sophomore Meysa Heitmann in the bottom first inning. However, UPG tied it up in the top of the second.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when UPG took advantage of two Waynesburg errors, going 4-1. All four of UPG’s runs in the game were unearned. 

Down to its last two outs, junior Brynn Charnesky drew a walk. Brunson then turned to his team’s starting pitcher, freshman Morgan Walt, for her first plate appearance of the day. Walt also drew a walk.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” Walt said on getting an at-bat. “I was more focused on pitching, but coach Brunson trusted me to hit and I needed to use that trust.”

Heitmann then doubled to center, scoring Charnesky to make it 4-2 and moving Walt to third. Heitmann had five hits on the day. 

That brought up senior Braylee Corbin, who got walked. Ball four was a wild pitch, and Walt came home to score, making it a one-run game. Heitmann got to third on the wild pitch, and Corbin herself advanced to second. 

With the count one ball and two strikes, Rohbeck delivered a walk-off single into right center field. Heitmann scored, and an overthrow from center field to third base caused Corbin to score from second base, giving Waynesburg a 5-4 win. 

“We had an out to play with, so I wasn’t stressed,” Rohbeck said. 

Rohbeck gave the Yellow Jackets their third walk-off of the season. Kelly and sophomore Graeson Grubbs each had walk-offs in Myrtle Beach. 

“It’s our consistency with our practices,” Rohbeck said of the team’s late game heroics. “We’re devoted. I know we were off yesterday practice-wise, but a lot of us were still hitting.”

Walt finished with a line of seven innings pitched, four hits and zero earned runs, striking out seven batters in what was also her first time pitching in quite some time. 

“I was ready to come out here and do what I do,” Walt said.

Brunson spoke on the impact of getting underclassmen experience in non-conference games.  

“We have to find more pitching,” Brunson said. “You can never have enough. Getting these girls in non-conference games is extremely important. You can see how it pays off this year. To keep it strong and competitive you have to have that young push.”

Walt herself said her outing raised her confidence level. 

“My confidence was down since I hadn’t pitched in a while,” Walt said. “I’m on the moon right now. Our team needed this after the loss in game one.”

Next up, the Yellow Jackets have the Grove City Wolverines this Saturday for a Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader.  

“They have a lot of pitching,” Brunson said. “Our bats are going to have to come to play right out of the gate. I feel like defensively and pitching wise we should be able to hold them down.”

“We just need to play our game,” Rohbeck said. “It’s a special day for the seniors, so we have to win for them and to put ourselves in a better spot in the standings.”

The Waynesburg University Sports Network will have coverage of the senior day doubleheader on pacdigitalnetwork.com. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.