Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Nicole Cruts went 2-for-5 with a RBI and Devon Utterback picked up a win inside the circle in game two in leading visiting West Chester to a split of its non-league softball doubleheader at Helen Randle Park Thursday afternoon.
West Chester (20-19) rebounded for a 5-1 win in the second game that halted a season-long five-game losing streak. Holy Family (15-13) took the opener, 2-1, in eight innings.
The Golden Rams scored three runs in the top of first inning of game two as the first five batters of the contest reached base safely. Kelsey Hannold hit a RBI double, and Cruts followed with a run-scoring single. That was all junior right-hander Devon Utterback (9-10) needed as she tossed a complete-game four-hitter to get the win.
Holy Family committed six errors in the nightcap, allowing eight hits and walking two.
J.P. Norris went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI in the second game as well.
In the opener, West Chester tied things up in the top of the seventh inning when pinch-runner Jess Russ scored on a one-out single by Jillian Murray. Unfortunately, Holy Family won the game in the bottom of the eighth when a one-out walk issued by Kate Skokowski (5-4) came around to score on a two-out single from the Tigers’ leadoff hitter.
Skokowski pitched well, yielding two runs on four hits and striking out seven. The Golden Rams’ offense could not help the junior righty, mustering just four hits of its own before finally breaking through with the game-tying run in the seventh.
West Chester returns home Saturday afternoon for a PSAC crossover doubleheader with Western Division foe Gannon at 1 p.m. on South Campus.
