Youngstown State’s softball team felt both ends of a comeback against Canisius on Tuesday.  The Penguins ended up gaining a split in two wild games where no lead was big enough for either team.  Canisius (12-12) took the first game, 7-6, in 10 innings, and YSU rallied late in the nightcap to garner a win, 10-8.

In the first of two games, YSU was unable to hold a 5-1 lead after five innings.  Canisius rallied with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to hold a 7-6 lead.  YSU tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.

Exposure to a new rule in a sport I know something about is rare.  In the tenth inning of a non-league softball game, the “International Rule” comes into play.  This rule means that the batter that made the last out for a team batting an inning later, starts at second base with nobody out.  With bunting a routine part of fast-pitch softball, the object of the first batter, unless it is your best hitter, is almost always a sacrifice bunt to move the runner on second to third with no outs.  Kind of reminds me of kickball, when there were not enough kids you had to employ the popular “ghost runners”.

Canisius scored in the top of the tenth.  YSU did not score in the bottom.  Ball game, 7-6.

In the first game, Danielle Chase pitched 9 1/3 innings for YSU.  Chase was sore and yielded to Hana Somogyi in the tenth.  Somogyi took over with one out and gave up three consecutive hits before being pulled.  Chase was pinned with the loss.  Kim Klonowski homered for Youngstown State, and Amanda Palmore, Autumn Grove, and Haley Thomas each had two hits.

In the second game, the roles were reversed.  Canisius held an 8-3 lead in the fifth.  The Penguin bats got hot in a hurry as Klonowski (pictured above) hit another homer.  Palmore and Sarah Gabel then socked back-to-back homers to left field, both solo shots, both career-first home runs.

Kayla Vallery (pictured) pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief of starter Cheryl Cale to pick up the win.  Vallery held Canisius to just three hits.  With the win, Youngstown State improved to 6-15 on the season, but showed great determination to fight back and gain the split.

Coach Brian Campbell reflected on what he saw.  “One of the biggest things is that this group has an ‘I don’t give up’ attitude.  The offense has been pretty good all year, but we have to bring the other parts with us.  We can’t expect our offense to explode for that many hits and runs all of the time.  I’m glad they did step up to the table, but we need to bring the other parts of the game.”