MOON TOWNSHIP – The Robert Morris softball team took down Kent State in both games of a doubleheader thanks to timely hitting and stingy pitching.

The Colonials won game one by a final score of 4-1 and game two by a final score of 5-3.

A common theme in the Colonials season thus far has been becoming weather warriors, as was the case again on Sunday. A three game series originally planned to have a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday was reduced to just a two game set.

Pitching was the tale of the tape in the first game, as Jane Garver continued her recent stretch of dominance going five and one third innings giving up just one unearned run. That performance means Garver has given up one earned run in her last 17 and two thirds innings.

If the Golden Flashes thought things got easier after Garver, their ideas were quickly squandered when Head Coach Jexx Varner brought in Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Candidate Dana Vatakis. Vatakis would shut the door and get the five out save without giving up a run or a hit.

The Colonials offense did just enough to win, or the Golden Flashes defense did just enough to lose, depending on how you look at it. The Colonials would score two unearned runs in the second inning when Kent State shortstop Julia Mazanec fumbled a Julia Ehrman ground ball, allowing a run to score. Ehrman would come around to score for the second unearned run of the inning.

An Anna Resnik sac fly in the fourth inning and RBI single in the sixth inning would account for the rest of the Colonials offense in game one.

Game two was much of the same for the Colonials, following the script of dominant pitching and opportunistic hitting.

Madison DeVault threw six innings of shutdown ball, allowing only two unearned runs in the process.

When asked about all three pitchers’ dominance, Jexx Varner had this to say.

“All three of them did a really good job, and that’s what we need. They just know what their role is and get it done.”

Despite the quality start, DeVault ended her day in line for the loss as the Colonials could not get the bats going in the first six innings and trailed 2-1 as a result.

The Colonials would get their spark when Avery Winchell reached on an error. Singles by Grover, Saxen, Black, and Erhman, along with a hit-by-pitch for Matheny would all add up to four runs for Robert Morris.

Jexx Varner was pleased with his team’s timely hitting and had this to say.

“It’s understanding who we are. We have some pretty good approaches and we were staying on our gameplans and giving ourselves some chances…They do a good job of having their at-bat, and then just passing the bat to the next (person).”

Kent State relived their game one nightmares when Dana Vatakis again took the mound to close out the game. She succeeded and finished off the Colonials second win of the day.

The Colonials look to build on Sunday’s successes when they take on hometown rival Pitt on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the North Athletic Complex.