Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
MANSFIELD, Pa. – Brooke Muth pitched a total of 9.2 scoreless innings and recorded the victory in each end of the PSAC crossover non-league softball twinbill Saturday at Helen Lutes Field as visiting West Chester swept homestanding Mansfield by scores of 1-0 and 4-3.
West Chester (25-7) has now won 13 of its last 14 and is off to the best start in program history. Mansfield (9-9) fell to .500 on the year with the two losses.
Erin MacNamee led off game one with a walk and then stole second base. Evelyn Anderson followed with a RBI double that plated MacNamee with the only run Muth would need. She was dominating on the afternoon, tossing a complete-game, four-hit shutout while walking just two and striking out seven. It marked the junior transfer’s fourth shutout on the season for West Chester.
Melissa Baer (4-4) was the hard-luck loser in the opener for the Mountaineers. She threw a complete-game effort, allowing just the one run on five hits. She walked three and struck out four. Offensively, Mansfield could not advance a runner past second all day. Only five baserunners reached scoring position in the tilt.
MacNamee and Anderson teamed up in the first inning once again in the nightcap to get West Chester off to another blistering start. MacNamee drew another walk and advanced two bases on consecutive wild pitches. Anderson grounded out to the pitcher, scoring MacNamee from third.
This time, Mansfield tied the game in the fourth on a RBI single from the No. 9-hole hitter Jordan Rishel. In the fifth, the Mountaineers took their first lead of the afternoon as they touched up Golden Rams starter Missy Schwartz for a couple of runs that made the score 3-1. Kelley Pfleegor hit a two-run double for the Mounties that chased Schwartz.
Fortunately for the purple and gold faithful, West Chester answered right back in the top half of the sixth inning with a three-spot that put the Rams on top, 4-3. Muth, again, took things from there to pick up win No. 11 on the year.
Schwartz singled through the left side to lead off the sixth for West Chester. Katie Kmiecinski walked, and Mansfield went to Baer to try to get out of the jam. Muth sacrificed, moving the two up a base, and Rams head coach Diane Lokey inserted Mandy Gerhart to pinch run for Kmiecinski.
Stef Kerbacher hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Schwartz, and MacNamee followed with a two-out, two-run double that brought across the game-winning run.
Muth threw 2.2 scoreless innings in relief, striking out two. Schwartz threw the first 4.1 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. She walked two and did not strike out a batter.
West Chester returns home on Wednesday to South Campus where the Golden Rams welcome area rival Lincoln University for a non-league doubleheader.
