KUTZTOWN, Pa.- Looking to get off to a hot start to begin conference play, the West Chester University softball team (21-12, 2-0 PSAC East) took to the road on Friday afternoon to face PSAC rival Kutztown (13-12, 0-2 PSAC East) in a PSAC East doubleheader. West Chester did just that as the Golden Rams won game one by a final of 8-2 before winning game two by a final of 8-4 in nine innings.
Game One: West Chester 8 Kutztown 2
After a scoreless opening two innings,
Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) opened the scoring with a solo shot to right to give the purple and gold an early 1-0 lead. Later in the inning,
Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) worked a walk to score
Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) to make the score 2-0. The West Chester lead grew moments later as
Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) reached on a fielding error to score
Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), thus, increasing the lead to 3-0.
In the fourth, West Chester doubled its lead thanks to an RBI double from Maseth, an RBI triple from Garber, and an RBI single from
Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), which moved the lead to 6-0.
In the sixth, West Chester added another two runs via a pair of RBI singles from McCollester and Hartman, which increased the lead to 8-0. On the verge of being eight-run ruled, Kutztown answered back with a two-run home run of its own during the home half of the sixth, which cut the deficit to 8-2.
These two runs proved to be the only runs that
Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) (10-4) would allow as she went the distance scattering just four hits and two runs with one strikeout to earn the victory.
Game Two:
In the first, Kutztown claimed an early 1-0 lead before recording another pair of runs during the second to grab an early 3-0 lead. In the fourth inning, West Chester got a pair of runs back via an RBI triple from Hartman to plate Maseth and an RBI single from
Tori McCoach (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan) that scored Hartman to trim the deficit to 3-2.
In the sixth, West Chester capped its rally with another three runs after Maseth reached on an error that scored
Naiya Murrey (Boyertown,Pa./Boyertown) before scoring on a RBI single from Klemas to claim a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, this lead was short lived as Kutztown pushed across a run of its own in the home half of the sixth to tie the game at 4-4.
In the ninth inning, Garber broke the tie with an RBI to center to score Maseth, which made the score 5-4. Garber scored moments later thanks to an RBI double from McCollester who scored on an RBI triple from Hartman moments later to claim a 7-4 lead. Hartman capped the rally moments later as she scored on an RBI single from local-product
Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) to give West Chester a commanding 8-4 lead.
Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) got the start in the circle and lasted 5.1 surrendering six hits and four runs (two earned) while striking out one in the no-decision.
Jen Hanshaw (Mechanicsburg,Pa./Cumberland Valley) (5-3) earned the victory in the circle as she pitched the final 3.2 surrendering just one hit in the victory.
Up Next:
West Chester will be back in action tomorrow afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. at home against Shippensburg.
