EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa.- Back in action for the first time in over a week, the West Chester University softball team (23-14, 4-2 PSAC) traveled to East Stroudsburg (19-17, 2-4 PSAC) to face off against its rival. West Chester dropped game one 9-4 before coming back to win game two by a final of 3-1.
Game One: ESU 9 WCU 4
- Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport) got West Chester on the scoreboard early with an RBI single to left to plate Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) and give West Chester an early 1-0 lead.
- Unfortunately, this lead was short lived as ESU answered back with three runs of its own during the bottom of the second to claim a 3-1 lead.
- Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) briefly restored the purple and golds lead with a three RBI double to left, which made the score 4-3 in favor of WCU heading to the home half of the fourth.
- In the bottom of the fifth, East Stroudsburg exploded for five runs to claim a commanding 8-4 lead before adding another tally in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-4.
- Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) (10-6) took the loss for West Chester as she went just 4.2 surrendering six hits and eight runs while striking out just three. Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) entered in relief and pitched the final 1.1 allowing three hits and one unearned run while recording a pair of strikeouts for the Golden Rams.
Game Two: WCU 3 ESU 1
- In the second game of the afternoon, West Chester got out to an early lead once again as Tori McCoach (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan) laced a triple down the left field line to give West Chester an early 1-0 lead heading to the home half of the second.
- In the top of the third, Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) struck with a two-RBI double to left to give the purple and gold an early 3-0 lead.
- In the home half of the third, East Stroudsburg answered back with a run of its own to trim the deficit to 3-1 but West Chester escaped further damage to preserve a slim lead.
- Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) (5-2) pitched well once again to earn her second consecutive victory as she went 5.1 surrendering just one run while striking out one in the victory. Jen Hanshaw (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) earned the save in relief as she tossed the final 1.2 allowing just one hit while striking out a batter of her own to close out the victory and give West Chester a crucial split.
After registering five hits this afternoon,
Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) now stands just one hit shy of her 200
th career hit, which will make her just the seventh Golden Ram to accomplish that feat.
Up Next:
West Chester will be back in action on Friday afternoon on the road at Millersville with that doubleheader set to begin at 2:30 p.m.
