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Box Score 2 BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Senior RHP Kim Murl tossed a six-hit shutout in the second game of West Chester's doubleheader at Bloomsburg to deliver the Golden Rams the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division regular-season title with a 2-0 win Saturday at Jan Hutchinson Field.
West Chester (34-17, 19-9 PSAC East) dropped the first game, 10-3, giving Bloomsburg (24-15, 16-10) a window of opportunity heading into the nightcap. However, Murl shut that window with authority.
With the win, West Chester earns its first outright Eastern Division regular-season championship in school history. The Golden Rams tied Kutztown for the division title in 2010, but the Golden Bears earned the top seed in the postseason tournament.
West Chester will play the four-seed out of the Western Division on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Veteran's Park in Quakertown, Pa. As of Saturday, that team is Edinboro (12-13-1, 17-20-1). However, the Fighting Scots have a doubleheader with third-place Gannon (12-12, 19-19) on Monday. Slippery Rock (11-13, 16-23), currently in fifth place in the West, is also still alive for a playoff berth. But, The Rock has four games left in the regular-season - against California, Pa. and Indiana, Pa. - the top two teams in the West, who have already clinched playoff spots.
The Golden Rams scored an unearned run in the fifth when Laura Altenburger led off with a walk, and Char Conaway came in to pinch run. Conaway stole second and then came around to score on an error by the Huskies' shortstop. Altenburger would score on a wild pitch in the seventh inning to double the visitor's lead. But, it would not matter as Murl (16-7) was masterful all day long.
She walked two and struck out one, pitching out of jam in the seventh by leaving the tying runs at second and third.
Five different Golden Rams rapped out hits in the win.
In the opener, Jill Murray was the only Golden Rams player with more than one hit. She went 2-for-2. Murl suffered the loss. She lasted 2.1 innings, surrendering three runs, two of them earned, on five hits while striking out one. Micaela McSpadden relieved her in the third, and Katie Erb finished up. Bloomsburg hit two home runs in the 10-3 win.
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