WEST CHESTER, Pa.- On the heels of a convincing sweep of Millersville on Friday afternoon, the West Chester University softball team (26-15, 7-3 PSAC) returned home to face off against PSAC Rival Kutztown (27-14, 6-4 PSAC). West Chester dropped game one of the doubleheader 9-5 before rebounding to capture the second game 2-0, which enabled the Golden Rams to take the season series 3-1.
Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) became the newest and seventh member of the illustrious 200 hit club with a double to left center field during the course of the Golden Rams fourth-inning rally in the opener.
Game One: Kutztown 9 West Chester 5
- Kutztown grabbed an early 2-0 lead during the first inning of the play to claim an early 2-0 lead. West Chester answered back quickly with a run of its own during the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) to trim the deficit to just one.
- In the second inning, it was back-to-back singles from Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) and Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport) that enabled Hartman to score via wild pitch to even the score at 2-2.
- In the fourth, Kutztown answered back with three more runs to claim a 5-2 lead heading to the home half of the fourth.
- In the bottom of the fourth, West Chester answered back with three runs of its own thanks to a bases loaded walk from Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) before Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) registered a two-RBI single before being thrown out attempting to go to second on the play. Stump followed this up with a rocket into right field that appeared as if it would score Maseth to give West Chester its first lead of the afternoon but Kutztown right fielder Tamara Jennings came up firing to get Stump on a close play at first base, thus, bringing the inning to its conclusion.
- Kutztown answered quickly with another three runs courtesy of back-to-back home runs and an RBI single down the left field line to claim an 8-5 lead heading to the home half of the fifth.
- In the top of the seventh, Kutztown added another run to extend its lead to 9-5.
- Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) (6-3) took the loss in the circle as she went 3.1 surrendering six hits and five runs while striking out just one in the defeat. Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) entered in relief and lasted just one inning surrendering three hits and two runs before exiting in favor of Jen Hanshaw (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) who finished the game in the circle for the purple and gold.
Game Two: West Chester 2 Kutztown 0
- In the bottom of the second, Emily Kim (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) drove in the first run of the contest with an RBI single to score Stump and give West Chester the early 1-0 lead.
- In the middle innings, Kutztown threatened as the Golden Bears managed to get runners on base throughout the middle innings but West Chester and pitcher Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) had an answer as she allowed West Chester to carry a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
- In the home half of the fifth, West Chester added a much needed insurance run as Kim came around to score following a leadoff single on a single past the short stop from McCollester, which stretched the lead to 2-0.
- Gearhart earned the victory in the circle as she went seven innings surrendering just five hits while striking out a trio of Golden Bears to improve to 11-6 on the year.
Up Next:
West Chester will be back in action next Friday afternoon at home against East Stroudsburg.
