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BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The Pitt State Softball team split games in the final day of the Eight State Classic, losing to Rockhurst, 4-1, in the first game of the day before earning a 7-6 extra-inning win over William Jewell on Sunday (Feb. 16) afternoon.

The Gorillas managed only two hits against Rockhurst, a double by McKenzie Rynard and a base hit by Tiffany Brown.
Rockhurst used five hits and an error to score its four runs against the Gorillas.

Kylie Harpst started the game and gave up three of the four runs to take the loss in the circle, moving her record to 1-1 on the season. Sam Grove pitched the remaining five innings, giving up three hits and only one run, which was not earned.
William Jewell out hit the Gorillas 11-8 in the second game of the day. The Cardinals also had to errors, while Pitt State had none.

Brown paced the Gorillas with a 2-for-4 performance with a walk, two home runs, two runs scored and four RBI. Brenna George also had two hits. The most important hit of the day belonged  to Darion Jaso, whose first career hit was also the game winner with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Haleigh Sills started the game, but was replaced by Grove at the top of the fifth. She gave up three runs on seven hits. Grove picked up the win in the circle to improve her record to 2-0 on the season. She gave up three runs on four hits.
Pitt State scored first in the top of the first inning. Brown drew a two-out walk and scored on Rynard's double.
Rockhurst answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. With runners on first and second, the Hawks hit back-to-back doubles to plate the three runs.

A Pitt State error led to the final run for the Hawks in the bottom of the sixth for the 4-1 loss for Pitt State.
William Jewell scored first in the top of the first in game one, but Pitt State answered in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run by Brown.

George led off the bottom of the third as she beat out an infield hit. Bailey Letts added another base hit. Brown then stepped up for her second home run in as many at bats. This one over the right field fence for a 4-1 Pitt State lead.
Two Cardinal hits and a Sills wild pitch in the top of the fourth resulted in two more runs  for William Jewell to bring the scored to 4-3.

William Jewell took the lead in the fifth inning on a double, a walk and three Grove wild pitches. The bases were loaded with two outs , but Grove forced a ground out to first to end the inning with no more damage done and the Gorilla down one, 5-4.

It wasn't until the bottom of the sixth that the Gorillas found a way to plate some more runs. Nicole Nease drew her third walk of the game to lead off the inning. Devon McCreath came in to pinch run for her. Cheslyn Mitchell reached on a Cardinal error on an attempted sacrifice bunt that allowed McCreath to advance to third. Jordan Bradshaw's base hit scored McCreath to tie the game. Stiens scored on a wild pitch to once again give the Gorillas the lead.
The top of the seventh saw William Jewell score one more run as a fielder's choice, a hit batter and a base hit to center resulted in a 6-6 tie.

Pitt State's batters went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, William Jewell started with a runner on second due to the international tiebreaker rule. The leadoff batter reached on a bunt for a base hit and she advanced to second. The second batter popped up to Letts at third. The third batter hit the ball back at Grove and she threw it right back to Nease behind the plate who applied the tag to the runner coming in from third for the second out of the inning. The next batter grounded out to Brown at first to end the top half of the inning with the Gorilla unscathed.

Nease started the bottom of the eighth at second. Mitchell dropped a perfectly placed bunt on the third base line. She reached and Nease was safe at third as the Cardinal defense waited to see if the ball would roll foul. Bradshaw walked to load the bases. McCracken hit into a double play as the Cardinal defense threw Nease out at home, then to first to catch McCracken. With Bradshaw and Mitchell on second and third, Darion Jaso stepped up to the plate and knocked her first collegiate hit into shallow left field to score Mitchell for the 7-6 Gorilla win.

Pitt State will play its home opener on Saturday, February 22 at 2 and 4 p.m. against Arkansas Tech.