INDIANA, Pa. – Rachel Rodriguez went 4-for-7 with two of the Crimson Hawks' seven doubles on the afternoon but IUP softball dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Slippery Rock Wednesday at Podbielski Field.
 
Slippery Rock (16-21) won by scores of 12-6 and 9-3.
 
The losses for the Crimson Hawks came out of divisional play as they dropped to 13-22-1 overall.
 
IUP totaled 17 hits in the doubleheader, with Brooklyn Kotula, Lauren Goetz, Bethany Bunner and Kassie Kesneck each collecting a pair of base hits.
 
The Crimson Hawks looked to dominate early with five runs in the first inning of game one. Rodriguez had one of three doubles in the inning, driving in a pair of runs with her two-bagger to right center.
 
Slippery Rock capitalized on three IUP errors in the second and third innings to plate seven runs, adding three more in the fifth to take a 10-5 lead. After a Bethany Bunner RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, SRU added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
 
In all the Crimson Hawks committed five errors in the opener, resulting in seven unearned runs.
 
Slippery Rock scored five times in the first six innings of game two before IUP crossed the plate once in the bottom of the sixth to get on the board. SRU opened the game up in the seventh with four runs with back-to-back doubles by Rodriguez and Karley Kovatch helping IUP score two in the final half-inning to cap the scoring.
 
Up next
IUP returned to PSAC Central play with a home doubleheader against Lock Haven Thursday. The Crimson Hawks enter the meeting one game up on the Bald Eagles with an 8-4 divisional record. These teams split their April 7 doubleheader at Lock Haven.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP softball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPsoftball.