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Box Score 2 WEST CHESTER, Pa.- J.P. Norris went 6-for-8 with three RBI, including a home run and a game-winning single in the opener to lead West Chester to a doubleheader sweep of PSAC East rival and 17th-ranked Shippensburg on Tuesday afternoon at South Campus Field.
West Chester (17-10, 6-2 PSAC East) won the first game, 3-2, and captured the nightcap, 6-0, behind the pitching of
Katie Erb, stellar defense and
Erin Quense, who knocked in three runs with a RBI double to open the scoring in the second, and then hit a two-run bomb in the sixth.
Game one featured a battle between two undefeated pitchers in West Chester freshman
Micaela Mcspadden at 6-0, and the PSAC East Pitcher of the Year in 2013, senior Emily Estep, who entered the game with a 9-0 record and a 0.35 ERA for Shippensburg (17-5, 3-3 PSAC East).
Norris led off the third inning with her third home run of the season to put the host Rams in front, 1-0. The Raiders scratched out a run in the fourth to tie the game, and then took a 2-1 lead with a triple by Hilary Lyons and a RBI single from Jenny Peel in the top of the fifth.
Jess Schuck connected on her third round-tripper of the season in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 2-2.
Erin Whitman hit a pinch hit double to start the sixth, and Janessa Rios pinch ran for her. With Rios still at second base, Norris hit a grounder up the middle that deflected off the diving second baseman's glove and into center field for her third hit of the game to give West Chester a 3-2 lead going into the seventh.
McSpadden, who gave up a single to open the seventh, was replaced by Erb. The sophomore, who was named PSAC Pitcher of Week earlier in the day, struck out the first batter she faced. Quense then threw out the runner attempting to steal second for the second out, and Erb induced a ground out to second to end the game and pick up her fourth save of the season.
McSpadden improved to 7-0, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings, while walking only one batter and striking out two. She baffled the Raiders hitters all game long by changing speeds. Estep suffered the loss to fall to 9-1, allowing three runs on seven hits. She walked four and struck out seven.
In the nightcap, Erb was strong from the beginning and received excellent defense courtesy of a diving stop at second from Schuck to short circuit a rally, and two running catches from
Kim Begley in right field.
Quense took care of the offense when she opened the scoring with a double off the center field wall to score
Kim Murl in the second inning.
Laura Altenberger followed with a RBI single to center to make 2-0 after two.
Shippensburg put two runners on with two out in the top of the sixth, prompting Head Coach Diane Lokey to bring in Murl. The senior threw one pitch to record the final out of the inning on a fly ball to Begley in right.
Murl opened the bottom of the sixth with a ringing double off the wall in right center. After a pitching change, Quense hit a two-run homer well over the left-center field fence to make it a 4-0 contest. The Golden Rams tacked on two more to make it a 6-0 final.
Erb went 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits while walking two and recording four strikeouts to improve to 5-6 on the season. Murl was perfect in her one and a third innings of relief with a strikeout and picked up her second save. Liz Parkins fell to 3-1 on the season, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5 innings plus a batter in the sixth.
West Chester is back on South Campus Field for the third straight day on Wednesday when it entertains PSAC East rival Millersville, with a 2 p.m. conference doubleheader.
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