INSTITUTE, W.V.- In need of just win to make its triumphant return to the Division II Softball Atlantic Super Regional for the third year in a row, the West Chester University softball team tangled with Regional Pod host West Virginia State on Saturday afternoon. West Chester raced out to an early lead and never looked back as the Golden Rams held on to win by a final of 11-5 to advance to the Super Regionals once again in 2019.
In the first, Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) gave the Golden Rams an early 1-0 lead with an RBI double to left to score Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep).
This lead grew during the second frame as West Chester exploded for four runs beginning with an RBI fielders choice off the bat of Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) that plated Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) to give the purple and gold a 2-0 lead. This lead doubled moments alter as Hartman sent a two-RBI triple to left center, which gave the Golden Rams a slid 4-0 lead. Maseth followed this up with another RBI this time with a single to right, which gave the purple and gold a solid 5-0 lead. West Virginia State answered back with a run of its own during the home half of the inning, which cut the Golden Ram lead to 5-1.
In the third, West Virginia State answered back with four runs of its own, which cut the Golden Rams lead back to just one (5-4) heading to the fourth.
In the top of the fourth, West Chester wasted little time in answering back with three runs of its own courtesy of a SAC Fly from Hartman, an RBI fielders choice from Maseth and an RBI single from Stump, which gave the purple and gold a commanding 8-4 lead.
The Yellow Jackets answered back with a run of their own during the home half of the fifth courtesy of a solo shot off the bat of the team's home run leader Brittany Allison.
West Chester got this run right back during the visiting half of the sixth inning with an RBI single off the bat of Klemas, which scored Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) to give the purple and gold a commanding 9-5 lead.
In the seventh, West Chester added two more runs to its lead via an RBI double from Hartman and an RBI single from Stump, which gave West Chester a commanding 11-5 lead heading to the home half of the seventh.
Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) got the start in the circle for West Chester and went the distance surrendering just seven hits and five runs while striking out three to earn the victory.
With this victory, West Chester advances back to the Atlantic Region Super Regional for the third year in a row with the chance to win just two games to potentially advance to the Division II Softball National Finals for the second year in a row. Fourth-seeded Shepherd pulled off an upset in the other Atlantic Region Pod, which will enable the Golden Rams to serve as the host for Super Regionals for the third year in a row as well.
