West Chester Rolls Past Cal 10-2

QUAKERTOWN, Pa.- The West Chester University softball team opened its PSAC Tournament campaign on Wednesday evening against California (Pa.). The Golden Rams won by a final score of 10-2 in six innings.
 
Cal (19-17) opened the game with a solo shot to left field off the bat of Brooke Wilson to race out to an early 1-0 lead. West Chester (37-11) did not trail for long as the Golden Rams saw their first six batters in the bottom half of the inning reach, before Cal was finally able to record the first out of the inning. This impressive run was also enough to allow West Chester to capture a 4-1 lead. Alyssa Herion (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) got the scoring started when she singled up the middle to score Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), thus, tying the game at 1-1. This lead grew again shortly thereafter when Cat Hammer (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) connected on a moonshot three-run home run to center field to stretch the lead to 4-1.
 
Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) added another run in the bottom of the third, after working a bases-loaded walk to score Sara Ercolani (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East), which made the score 5-1 in favor of West Chester.
 
Cal got one back in the top of the fourth, when Abby Sacshe singled to right field to score Carlee Wickstrom, who had reached via a hit by pitch to open the inning, but this is all the Vulcans were able to muster as WCU starting pitcher Amanda Houck (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) quickly recorded the third out of the inning to take a 5-2 lead to the bottom of the fourth.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, the West Chester bats came back to life once again as the Golden Rams scored another two runs thanks to a two-run home run from Herion to extend the lead to 7-2 heading to the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, West Chester was right back up to its old tricks, scoring two more runs thanks to a two-RBI single off the bat of Ercolani to extend the lead to 9-2 heading to the sixth. Garber ended the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, when she singled up the middle to score Caroline Adams (Media, Pa./Renaissance Academy)
 
Houck went the distance for West Chester, going the full six innings and surrendering just four hits and two runs while striking out five en route to the victory. 
 
Emilee Downing got the start in the circle for the Vulcans, and she lasted just four batters allowing all four runs, before being lifted in favor of Carly Konopka, who came in and promptly walked the first two batters she faced. These back-to-back walks closed the book on Konopka as she exited in favor of Taylor Robblee, who managed to retire the bottom of the West Chester order in order to escape the first inning. Robblee lasted three innings surrendering three runs on three hits while striking out two, before Downing reentered in the fourth inning and pitched the remainder of the game. Downing ended the game surrendering seven runs on seven hits while walking five and striking out two in the loss.
 
Entering play today West Chester is now 7-8 on the year when opponents score first. West Chester is also 8-8 when allowing opponents to score in the first inning. On the other side of the coin West Chester is now 18-3 on the year when scoring in the first inning of play.
 
West Chester will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. against Gannon.