Women in Farrell and Sharon Wednesday reported encounters with a young man wielding a baseball bat.

Southwest Mercer County Regional police said an 81-year-old woman arrived home at 9:45 p.m. and was surprised by a young, black male with a bat.

"I could see he wasn't that old," the woman said this morning.

The woman, whose grandson was downstairs, said she had just gotten into the house when she saw the male on the porch.

The male tried to get into the house but she slammed the door shut before he could, police said.

He swore at her and hit the screen door with the bat, police said.

He ran off and a neighbor saw him get into a car with three other people and speed off, police said.

The woman said she thinks the neighbor told her the car was light gray.

The woman said the incident has made her much more cautious. "I was a person never afraid," she said.

About 15 minutes later, a man with a baseball bat attempted to rob a woman in the 1000 block of Woodland Place, Sharon, police said.

The 44-year-old Sharon woman was walking to work when she noticed a two-door, silver car circling her, police said. The woman became nervous and started to walk to a friend's house, police said.

A man jumped out of the car, hit the woman in the chest with a baseball bat and demanded her purse, police said.

The woman was not injured, police said.

The woman dodged the man so he couldn't grab her purse, and the female driver of the car yelled for the man to get inside, police said.

The robber was black with a thin build and wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, police said. The car had a dent in the passenger side door, and there were two other passengers in the car, police said.

Sharon police said they were not aware of the Farrell incident. Southwest Mercer County Regional police could not be reached for comment.

Back in Farrell, a 76-year-old Cathedral Drive woman reported that her purse was stolen by two young, black men as she exited her car at about 10:15 p.m., police said.

The robbers ran from the area, police said.