Game Notes
WEST CHESTER NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Tournament Appearances: 9
Overall Record: 23-18 (.561)
National Championships: 0
Regional Titles: 2Â
Last Super Regional: 2018
SHEPHERD VS. WEST CHESTER
All-Time Record: West Chester leads 13-10 (West Chester leads 2-1 in NCAA Tournament games)
Last Meeting: March 27, 2018-Doubleheader Split-Game 1: West Chester 5 Shepherd 0 I Game 2: West Chester 3 Shepherd 7
TOP ARMS
Reilly Geahart: 17-7 I 2.03 ERA I 100 Strikeouts
Maegen Kavanagh: 10-4 I 4 SV I 3.14 ERA I 60 Strikeouts
TOP BATS
Emily Maseth: .411 I 78 hits I 20 doubles I 3 HR I 53 runs I 58 RBI
Heidi McCollester: .377 I 69 hits I 10 HR I 66 RBI I 11 doubles I 36 runs
Bri Garber: .370 I 70 hits (225 career) I 57 runs I 9 doubles I 1 HR IÂ 27 RBI
The Golden Ram Story
A year ago, West Chester ran through the Atlantic Regional Tournament as the Golden Rams traveled to Lock Haven for the Regional Pod and rolled through this Pod before cruising past Gannon in the Super Regionals. During this five game winning streak that sent West Chester back to Salem, Va. for the second time in team history a year ago, the Golden Rams outscored their opponents by an impressive 31-6 margin. After three games in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, West Chester has already scored 31 runs, however, the Golden Rams have surrendered 11 runs to this point after playing in what was a very high scoring Regional Pod at West Virginia State.
West Chester and Shepherd have met before in the NCAA Tournament with the Tournament meeting between these two teams coming in 2017 when West Chester went 2-1 against the Rams to capture the Pod Championship in that season and earn the right to host a Super Regional at the conclusion of that season as well. In 2018, West Chester and Shepherd also tangled during the regular season on a cold and damp March afternoon in West Chester that saw the two teams play to a split as the Golden Rams captured the opener by a final of 5-0 before dropping the nightcap by a score of 7-3.
While West Chester has not faced Shepherd in 2019, the Golden Rams have faced a slew of MEC opponents including Fairmont State, Glenville State, Notre Dame (Oh.), and West Virginia State. The purple and gold have fared very well in these meetings as they have played to a perfect 7-0 record while outscoring its opposition by a gaudy 59-17 margin over the course of these seven games.
In the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament a week ago, West Chester rolled to a perfect 3-0 record outscoring its opponents by 20 runs (31-11) over the course of those three victories. West Chester kicked off its NCAA Tournament campaign with a 8-2 victory over PSAC West rival and familiar foe Gannon before downing CIAA foe Winston Salem State by a final of 12-4 on Friday afternoon. These two victories enabled the purple and gold to advance to Championship Saturday vs host West Virginia State in need of just one victory to advance to the Supers once again in 2019. West Chester accomplished its mission on Saturday as the Golden Rams got their offense rolling and never looked back en route to an 11-5 victory over the Yellow Jackets, thus, advancing West Chester back to the Super Regionals once again in 2019.
The combination of PSAC East Pitcher of the Year
Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) and fellow PSAC East All-League selection
Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) has been exceptionally hard for opposing teams to manage in 2019 as the two have proved to be among the best pitchers in the Atlantic Region. Gearhart leads the Golden Rams in almost every major statistical category including wins (17), shutouts (7), complete games (13), ERA (2.03), and strikeouts (100), which was crucial in allowing her to not only capture PSAC East Pitcher of the Year honors but also to earn NFCA and DII CCA All-Atlantic Region honors during the course of the last week. Gearhart had one start and pitched to a perfect 1-0 record during the Golden Rams stay in Institute, W.V. a week ago and she pitched well against a high-powered Winston Salem State offense. Winston Salem State did manage to plate four runs during the early stages of the game, however, this was all the Rams would get as Gearhart buckled down and finished the contest allowing just four hits and those four runs (only three earned) while fanning seven batters, which increased her strikeout total on the season to an even 100 and advanced West Chester to the Pod Championship game. Meanwhile, Kavanagh has enjoyed a breakout season for West Chester in 2019 as she currently sits second on the staff in wins (10), complete games (6), shutouts (2), and strikeouts (60) while also leading the team in saves with six on the season. Kavanagh was impressive in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament a week ago as she picked up a pair of wins for the Golden Rams scattering just seven runs over the course of her 14 innings of work while striking out five to guide West Chester back to the Super Regionals in 2019.
Offensively, West Chester has been led by a trio of Golden Rams as
Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster), Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), and Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) have all been very impressive to say the least to this point in 2019. Maseth enters the Super Regionals leading the team in a host of categories including batting average (.411), hits (78), doubles (20), and triples (5). Â These 20 doubles rank Maseth in a tie for second all-time in single-season doubles with Sue Simms from 1988 while Sam Ingersoll's 23 doubles in 2009 is still the most in single-season program history. Additionally, Maseth is currently chasing the single-season hit record as she currently has 78 hits on the year, which is second in single-season team history and just seven shy of the record set by fellow junior Garber a year ago when she recorded 85 hits on the season. McCollester has batted cleanup just one spot behind Maseth for much of the 2019 season and this has certainly seemed to benefit the senior catcher as she has enjoyed a career year in 2019 entering the Supers with a .377 batting average that ranks second on the team while also leading the team in home runs (10), and RBI (66). Heidi's 66 RBI ranks the senior catcher just two RBI shy of tying the single-season RBI record also held by Ingersoll from 2010 when she drove in 68 to help bolster the Golden Ram offense in that season. McCollester also currently serves as the active-career home run leader with 19 home runs on her career, which currently ranks in a tie for sixth also with Ingersoll. McCollester entered the season with nine home runs on her career and she has already more than doubled that mark in 2019 with her 10 homers including three home runs during the PSAC Tournament alone. Finally, Garber has continued her remarkable career wearing the purple and gold as she climbs her way up the career hitting list coming ever closer to the elusive 244 hit record set by Erin MacNamee during her career from 2008-2011. Entering the Super Regionals, Garber currently finds herself in a tie with another former teammate of hers in
Cat Hammer ('18) with 225 career hits, which ranks second all-time in program history. In 2019, Garber leads the team in runs scored with 57 while ranking third on the team in batting average (.370), and second on the team in hits (70). Garber has also driven in 27 runs on the year to further bolster the Golden Ram offense from the leadoff spot. While Garber, Maseth, and McCollester all lurk in the top half of the Golden Ram lineup, the West Chester lineup remains formidable throughout as six Golden Rams enter play batting north of .300 on the year, which puts the team batting average at an impressive mark of .313 on the season.
