Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Kate Kmiencinski hit a two-run homer to lift West Chester to a 3-1 win in the first game of a PSAC East softball doubleheader with visiting East Stroudsburg Saturday afternoon. But, the Warriors scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to outlast West Chester, 5-3, in the nightcap and earn a split of the conference opener.
Kmiencinski’s blast to left-center in the bottom of the second inning put West Chester up 2-0 early. The Golden Rams (17-7, 1-1 PSAC East) tacked on another in the fourth when Megan Harbaugh singled up the middle, plating Samantha Ingersoll, who had doubled to leadoff the frame.
ESU (10-7, 1-1) got one back in the top half of the sixth, but West Chester’s left-arm of the law, Shannon Padula (9-3) shut down the Warriors the rest of the way to secure the win. Padula tossed a complete game, scattering six hits and allowing just one unearned run. She walked one and struck out two and hit a batter.
Five different Golden Rams registered hits with Kmiencinski picking up two RBI and Harbaugh one.
In the nightcap, East Stroudsburg finally broke through against freshman Samantha Soprano with a three-run fifth to come from behind. The Warriors had scored twice in the top of the first, but West Chester retaliated quickly with three in their half of the first. That is the way things stood until the fifth.
Brandi Stettler led off the frame with a solo home run to tie things up at 3-3. Jamie Mingis then singled to right, and Brittany Racek bunted her over to second. Alicea Ashe then smashed a two-run shot that put ESU in the lead for good, 5-3 and chased Soprano. Padula came on and got out of the inning with no more damage.
West Chester went quietly in the fifth, but left runners at the corners in the sixth and a runner up at second in the seventh.
Kmiencinski went 2-for-3 in the second game, and Ingersoll registered the Golden Rams’ lone RBI.
Soprano (8-4) started and lasted 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on four hits and walking two. Padula pitched the last 2.2 innings, giving up four hits without yielding a run. She struck out one.
