Box Score
CALIFORNIA, Pa. – Kim Murl scattered seven hits over six innings and scored a run to lead West Chester to a 4-3 victory over host and eighth-ranked California (Pa.) in the second game of the NCAA Division II Softball Atlantic Regional at Lilley Field Saturday.
West Chester (36-19) advances to Sunday’s final to play whoever comes out of the loser’s bracket between Lock Haven, Chowan and Cal. That team will have to beat the Golden Rams twice on Sunday. Sunday’s eventual winner advances to next weekend’s Super Regional to take on the team that comes out of the other Atlantic Regional bracket.
“They came to play,” head coach Diane Lokey. “They didn’t seem intimidated, and I think that was the difference.”
Megan Kelly hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh that stretched the Golden Rams’ lead to 4-2. That run proved crucial as Cal (37-5) came back with a sacrifice fly of its own to pull back within one. However, Devon Utterback came on to get the last three batters and earn her second save of the year.
Murl (6-1) allowed three runs, two of them earned, and did not walk a batter or strike out a batter. After Cal’s leadoff hitter, Natalie Wideman, reached on a single to center and moved up to second on an error, head coach Diane Lokey went to Utterback.
The senior righty got Natalya Smarra to fly out down the right field line that moved Wideman over to third. Erica Vallecorsa flew out to left, scoring Wideman, before Shelby Lia struck out swinging to end the game.
Cal scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out, two-run double by pitcher Alex Sagl (19-3). However, West Chester answered with back-to-back home runs in the top of the second by Jill Murray and Erin Quense to take a 3-2 lead. Murray smashed a two-run shot to center off Sagl to initially tie the game. Quense then followed with a bomb of her own a little to the right of Murray’s in center, giving the Rams the lead for good.
The Golden Rams got just three hits in the ballgame, but they made each one count to pick up the win. For Murl, it was her second win over Cal this season. She beat the Vulcans, 4-1, in a complete-game effort during the regular season back on April 20.
“Kim keeps them off balance,” Lokey said about her junior pitcher, who she seems to use at exactly the right moments.
“Mixing speeds was one of the keys,” Murl said afterwards. “That’s what won us the game. Our mental approach is really well right now. Earlier in the season we were a bit shaky. But, here at regionals, we have been really focused and done a good job of staying composed.
“We are a confident team right now. We just need to keep putting every piece of the puzzle together and stay focused and composed throughout the whole game.”
GAME NOTES: West Chester’s win over Cal in the NCAAs marks the first time in school history that the Golden Rams have won more than one game in the tournament in a season … West Chester is now 3-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament … West Chester is now 2-2 against Cal this year, handing the Vulcans two of their five losses on the season … West Chester makes an appearance in the regional bracket final for the first time in school history … this is as far as a West Chester softball team has ever ventured into the NCAA Tournament.
