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Box Score 2
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Kim Murl threw one pitch and earned the save in the top of the seventh inning of game two as West Chester squashed a two-run rally from Bloomsburg and held on for a 5-4 win in the nightcap of its non-league softball doubleheader with visiting Bloomsburg Saturday afternoon.
West Chester (26-11) upped its winning streak to six games with its third consecutive doubleheader sweep. Bloomsburg (19-9) was making its first trip to West Chester since 2008.
Murl (1) left the tying run at second base when she relieved starter Kate Skokowski (9-7) in the seventh and induced a ground out to short to end the game on just one pitch. Skokowski scattered eight hits over 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on Senior Day. She walked three and struck out four.
Megan Kelly and Kelly Anderson hit back-to-back doubles in the second inning as West Chester put up a four-spot to take a 4-1 lead. J.P. Norris also had an RBI bunt single in the frame. Bloomsburg added a run in the third to close to 4-2. However, West Chester pushed across a run in the fifth on a single thru the left side by Murl with two outs.
Altenburger and Anderson were each 2-for-3 in the nightcap.
Devon Utterback (14-3) left runners at first and second when she struck out Bloomsburg’s No. 3 hitter to end the game in the opener and lift West Chester to a 4-3 win.
Utterback yielded three runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out three on Senior Day to get the win in game one.
West Chester fell behind early, 2-0. However, the hosts posted a single tally in the third and a pair of runs in the fourth, before tacking on a much-needed run in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Similar to game two, Bloomsburg pushed across one run in the seventh, but could not get the equalizer before the Golden Rams got three outs to close the game.
Jill Murray hit a two-run homer in the fourth, her second of the season, and Kelly hit a solo shot in the third for the Golden Rams.Kelly and Vavala were each 2-for-3 in game one.
West Chester travels to Kutztown for a much-anticipated rematch with the Golden Bears. That double-dip pits a pair of 4-4 clubs in PSAC East play against one another on Sunday. The doubleheader begins at 12 p.m.
