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QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – Devon Utterback threw a four-hit shutout in an elimination game of the 2013 PSAC Softball Tournament at Veterans Park Friday afternoon to help West Chester stave off elimination with a 2-0 win over No. 20 Shippensburg.
West Chester (34-18) dropped an 11-3 decision to Kutztown (27-21) in six innings in the first game of the day to fall into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Shippensburg (31-11), the PSAC Eastern Division champion in the regular season, was knocked out of the tournament with the loss.
The Golden Rams scored a pair of runs back-to-back in the top of the seventh on two straight safety squeeze plays for the only runs that Utterback (20-8) needed. Megan Kelly and Kelly Anderson successfully pulled off the safety squeezes.
Erin Quense began the frame with a single through the left side. West Chester head coach Diane Lokey inserted Katie Erb to run for the Rams’ catcher. Laura Altenburger then sacrificed Erb over to second. Ali Vavala followed with a bunt single down the third base line and then advanced to second when nobody was covering the bag, which put runners on second and third with one out.
Kelly laid down a bunt towards third, and Shippensburg’s third baseman scooped up the ball and flipped it to the catcher, but Erb slid past the Raiders catcher for the first run of the game. Anderson then laid down an almost identical bunt back to the pitcher. However, Vavala slid in under the tag of the Raiders’ catcher this time to give West Chester a two-run lead.
Shippensburg put its leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh on base. However, the next batter flew out to left and then the next hitter lined into a double play as Altenburger snared the line drive and threw over to firs to double off the runner and end the game.
Utterback struck out one batter and did not walk anybody in recording her eighth shutout of the year. The senior hurler, who set the school’s single-season record for strikeouts on Wednesday against Lock Haven, broke the single-season record for shutouts with her eighth while becoming just the second pitcher in school history to win 20 games in a year.
Vavala finished 2-for-3 while Kelly, Quense and Jill Murray were the only other players to get a hit in the pitcher’s duel. Shippensburg’s Liz Parkins (9-1) suffered her first loss of the season inside the circle. The Raiders’, who entered the tournament ranked second in the Atlantic Region will wait until Monday morning to see where their season continues in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
West Chester, ranked fourth in the Atlantic Region entering the PSAC Tournament, advance to Friday’s conference semifinals and will play No. 7 California (Pa.) at 1 p.m. at Veterans Park. Kutztown and Bloomsburg, both of whom are still unbeaten in the tournament, will play at 10 a.m. The loser of that game will play the winner of the West Chester-Cal game at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.
Kutztown 11, West Chester 3 (6 innings) …
Kutztown hit five home runs en route to an 11-3 win, shortened to six innings, against West Chester Friday. Devon Utterback surrendered four of the long balls. She lasted just two innings, giving up seven earned runs on six hits. She walked one and struck out two. Senior Kate Skokowski came in and went the rest of the way, giving up three runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out three.
Quense and Altenburger hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth, after Vavala scored in the third on a throwing error by Kutztown’s catcher. However, the Golden Rams mustered just four hits in the loss.
