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Box Score 2
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Devon Utterback tossed a complete-game, three-hitter in the opener, however, host West Chester could not complete the sweep in the nightcap as the Golden Rams split a PSAC softball doubleheader with visiting Shippensburg Saturday.
West Chester (24-23, 5-9) remains in the thick of the hunt for a playoff spot with a doubleheader at East Stroudsburg looming next Friday.
The Golden Rams put up a four-spot in the fourth inning of game one for all the runs they would need for Utterback (12-11). Abby Block, playing the final home game of her career, hit a RBI single down the right-field line to score a run in the fourth. Megan Kelly then doubled down the line to score Block with the fourth run of the frame. West Chester scored a run on a wild pitch and a groundout by Jill Murray earlier in the inning.
Shippensburg pushed across one in the seventh, but it was a little too little and a little too late for the Raiders in the opener. Four different Golden Rams collected a hit off Shippensburg starter Liz Parkins (3-4). She lasted five innings, giving way to Makenzie Lynn in the sixth.
In the nightcap, Shippensburg plated two in the first and added one more in the fifth, after West Chester had cut its deficit in half with a single tally in the fourth.
Jessie Trammell hit a RBI double in the fourth, scoring Maddie Justice. Meg Lehman would also come around to score on a throwing error that enabled Trammell to move over to third.
Pinch-hitter Erin Whitman hit a RBI single to center in the fourth that scored pinch-runner Ali Vavala, drawing West Chester to within one, 2-1. Nicole Cruts had doubled, before being pinch ran for.
Rachel Shumway hit a run-scoring double in the top half of the next inning to put the lead back at a pair.
Kate Skokowski (6-7) suffered the loss in the second game. She lasted 4.1 innings, allowing three runs, two of them earned on four hits. Utterback finished up and pitched 2.2 innings of one-hit ball.
West Chester travels to University of Sciences Monday for a non-league doubleheader at 3 p.m.
