West Chester Staves Off Elimination With 6-1 Win Over Lock Haven

Box Score

CHARLESTON, WV – West Chester University scored five runs in the final two innings to break a 1-all tie en route to a 6-1 victory over Lock Haven University in an elimination game at the NCAA DII Atlantic Region softball tournament Friday afternoon.
 
West Chester (48-8) put an end to a three-game losing streak while coming from behind for the first time in the postseason to pick up a win. Lock Haven (36-19), which lost the first game of the day on a walk-off home run by University of Charleston in the 13th inning, saw its season come to a close. That first game was a completion of a game started at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, but suspended around 11:35 p.m. in the 10th inning due to rain with the teams in a scoreless deadlock.
 
Sophomore Cat Hammer (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to break the tie and put West Chester on top for good, 3-1. Her 11th blast of the season to left-center was all Amanda Houck (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) needed to hold on this time around.
 
Monica Twardowski (Boothwyn, Pa./Padua Academy) singled in the hole between short and third to score Lauren Scarpato (Springfield, Pa./Springfield-DELCO) with the third run of the frame that put the Rams up, 4-1.
 
Alyssa Herion (Avon Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) knocked in a run on a fielder's choice ground out, and Micaela McSpadden (Spotswood, N.J./Spotswood) singled in a run in the seventh to extend the Golden Rams' lead to 6-1.
 
Houck (17-4) went the distance inside the circle for West Chester. The left-handed hurler allowed one unearned run on six hits over seven innings. She walked one and struck out four and hit a batter. Lock Haven's all-region pitcher, Becky Slattery (22-9), suffered the loss.