INSTITUTE, W.V.- After opening its 2019 NCAA Tournament campaign with a convincing win over PSAC West rival Gannon a day ago, the West Chester University softball team (36-19) continued its quest to return to the National Finals this morning against seven-seed Winston Salem State. The contest was close throughout the early innings as the two sides traded runs to open the contest but West Chester eventually pulled away to win by a final score of 12-4.
In the top of the first, West Chester jumped out to an early two-run lead thanks to an RBI fielders choice from Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) and an RBI double from Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick), which gave West Chester the early advantage.
This lead was short-lived as Winston Salem State answered back with two runs of its own to even the score at 2-2.
In the top of the second, West Chester added four more runs of its own via a pair of fielding errors by the shortstop, an RBI single from McCollester and a daring steal of home by Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster), which gave the Golden Rams an early lead they would never relinquish.
In the bottom of the second, Winston Salem State answered back with two runs of its own, which trimmed the deficit to 6-4. This is all Winston Salem State would get as Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) settled down at this point as she went the distance for the Golden Rams scattering just four hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out seven to lift West Chester to the victory.
The Golden Ram offense, however, was far from finished as the purple and gold plated six more runs before the conclusion of the contest to earn the victory by a final of 12-4. West Chester scored two more runs in the third thanks to an RBI double from Maseth and an RBI groundout from McCollester, which extended the lead to 8-4. West Chester added another two runs during the sixth inning of play via another RBI double from Maseth who came around to score on a wild pitch to claim a commanding 10-4 lead. West Chester pushed its final two runs across during the seventh thanks to an RBI double from Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) and an RBI single from Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep).
This victory sends West Chester to the final day of the Regional Tournament in need of just one win to return to the Super Regionals once again in 2019. West Chester will have to wait for the conclusion of a pair of games this afternoon to determine whom among the other three teams in the Pod it will face in the Pod Championship game on Saturday morning.
