WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester softball team (19-8, 4-0 PSAC) welcomed a familiar foe in PSAC East rival and perennial power Kutztown (11-12, 0-4 PSAC) to the friendly confines of the West Chester softball field on Thursday afternoon and the Golden Rams easily swept both games taking game one 12-1 in five innings before winning game two 9-1 in five innings once again.
Amanda Houck (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) (12-3) pitched two complete games to improve her record to 12-3 on the year surrendering just three hits and one run in each game while recording one strikeout in game one and four in game two.
Alyssa Herion (Avon Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) had a huge day as she went 7-for-7 with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored to lead West Chester to the crucial sweep over rival Kutztown.
Game One:
- In the first game of the afternoon, West Chester jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Cat Hammer (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) and bases loaded walks from Sara Ercolani (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) and Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown).
- In the third inning, the lead continued to grow as West Chester scored another six runs to take a commanding 9-0 lead to the fourth. Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter- Strasburg) got things started when worked a bases loaded walk of her own to score Madison Kelly (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall). Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) followed this up with a bases-clearing three RBI single to right to give West Chester a commanding 7-0 lead. Herion followed this up with two-run home run to left to give West Chester the 9-0 advantage heading to the fifth.
- Kutztown managed to get one back in the top of the fourth, but Houck held the Golden Bears to just one to preserve a 9-1 lead heading to the home half of the fourth.
- In the home half of the fourth inning, Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) crushed a three-run shot to left field to take a 12-1 lead heading to the top of the fifth.
- Houck then proceeded to work a quick 1-2-3 top of the fifth getting three consecutive groundouts to pick up the 12-1 victory in the first game of the afternoon.
Game Two:
- The West Chester offense got right back to work in game two scoring three runs in the first inning, thanks to an RBI groundout from Hammer and RBI singles from Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) and ErcolaniThis early outburst gave the Golden Rams a 3-0 lead, which they would never relinquish en route to the 9-1 victory.
- In the bottom of the third, Herion recorded her second home run of the afternoon to give West Chester a 4-0 lead. Herion was right back at it in the fourth inning when she doubled down the line in left to score Garber and increase the lead to 5-0 in favor of West Chester.
- In the top half of the fifth inning, Kutztown got one back thanks to a leadoff home run off the bat of Taylor Knappenberger but this is all the Golden Bears would get as Houck answered by striking out the side to preserve the 5-1 lead.
- In the bottom of the fifth, the West Chester offense roared back to life scoring another four runs all with two outs. Kelly produced the first run of the inning when she scampered home on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 6-1. Following this McCollester finished her at bat with a single past the shortstop to plate Ercolani and increase the lead to 7-1. Garber and Hartman followed this up with singles of their own to load the bases for Herion. Herion delivered once again as she smoked a double to left center scoring McCollester and Garber to give the Golden Rams the 9-1 victory.
- Houck was dominant in game two as she allowed just three hits and one run while striking out four to cruise to the victory.
Since opening PSAC play on Saturday afternoon West Chester has outscored its opponents 39-4 over the course of four games (two against East Stroudsburg and two against Kutztown) to go 4-0 to open conference play.
West Chester will put its perfect 4-0 record and impressive scoring margin to the test tomorrow afternoon when the Golden Rams travel to Shippensburg for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
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