Softball Sweeps Millersville on Senior Day to Capture Sixth Consecutive PSAC East Title

WEST CHESTER, Pa.- In need of a pair of victories to secure its sixth consecutive PSAC East Regular Season title, the West Chester University softball team (32-17, 11-5 PSAC) did just that as the Golden Rams swept Millersville (20-31, 3-13 PSAC) on Sunday afternoon winning game one 9-2 before capturing game two 6-4.

Prior to the beginning of  game one, West Chester took a moment to honor its four seniors in Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), Holly Pachella (Wayne, Pa./Radnor), Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame), and Emily Webster (Honey Brook, Pa./Twin Valley) for their contributions to the program over the last four seasons and wish them well in their future endeavors.

Game One:

• McCollester started off the game with an RBI single to give West Chester an early 1-0 lead.
• Unfortunately, this lead was short lived as Millersville answered back with a solo home run to left to even the score at 1-1.
• In the home half of the second, Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) answered back with an RBI single to give West Chester a 2-1 lead before the lead grew when Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) got hit by a pitch to extend the lead to 3-1. 
• Millersville answered back with a run of its own during the fifth, which cut the deficit to 3-2 heading to the home half of the fifth.
• In the home half of the sixth, West Chester exploded for six runs courtesy of a series of productive fielders choices from Garber, Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep), and Tori McCoach (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell-Egan), an RBI single from Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) and a two-RBI double from Maseth to give West Chester a commanding 9-2 lead.
• Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) (15-6) got the win in the circle for West Chester going five innings surrendering two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out seven. Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) recorded the six-out save registering three strikeouts to lock down the victory.

Game Two:

• In game two, Millersville opened the scoring with a two-run home run during the second to claim an early 2-0 lead.
• Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) answered back with a solo shot to cut the deficit to just one heading to the third inning of play.
• In the third inning, smart base running was the story as the Golden Rams scored three runs of their own to take a 4-2 lead heading to the fourth. McCollester and Hartman each delivered RBI singles for two of the Golden Rams three runs while Garber scampered home on a poor snap throw to third base on a steal attempt by Hartman to give the Golden Rams a 4-2 lead.
• In the home half of the fifth, West Chester pushed another two runs across thanks to an RBI single from McCollester followed by an RBI double from Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown), which extended the lead to 6-2.
• Millersville attempted to mount a comeback during the seventh as the Marauders registered a two-RBI double to cut the deficit to just two but it was not enough as West Chester held on for the 6-4 victory.
• Kavanagh had a solid outing as she tossed 6.1 surrendering just seven hits and four runs while striking out five to improve to 7-4 on the season. Gearhart entered in relief and allowed just one hit while recording the final two outs to allow the Golden Rams to register the victory and the secure the PSAC East regular season title. 

Up Next:

This afternoon was the regular season finale for the purple and gold as they will now shift their focus to the PSAC Tournament, which begins on Wednesday afternoon at Veterans Park in Quakertown, Pa. Be sure to visit wcupagoldenrams.com later in the week for a full preview of all the action from Quakertown later this week.