QUAKERTOWN, Pa.- For the second year in a row, West Chester (33-18) dropped its second game of the PSAC Tournament falling to Kutztown (36-18) by a final score of 8-3. West Chester will now need to win the nightcap opposite another PSAC East rival in Shippensburg and the Golden Rams will need to win twice on both Friday and Saturday if they are to claim the PSAC Tournament Championship for the second time in three years.
In the top of the first, Kutztown opened the scoring after having its first batter of the game reach on a leadoff double to claim an early 1-0 lead over the Golden Rams.
West Chester answered back with a run of its own during the home half of the first thanks to an RBI groundout from Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), which scored Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) who had opened the inning with a leadoff single earlier in the inning.
The game did not remain tied for long as Kutztown recorded a pair of solo home runs in the top of the second and top of the third innings to claim a 3-1 lead.
Kutztown added another five more runs during the seventh inning, which gave the Golden Bears a commanding 8-1 lead heading to the home half of the seventh.
Kutztown continues its dominant run through the PSAC Tournament as the Golden Bears improve to 3-0 outscoring their opponents 32-5 over the course of their three victories.
Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) reached base in the seventh and came around to score via a two-run shot from Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport) to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) (16-7) got the start in the circle and lasted just one inning allowing two runs on four hits while striking out before exiting in favor of Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) tossed the next 5.2 innings surrendering six runs on seven hits while striking out just one in the setback. Jen Hanshaw (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) entered the game in relief and recorded the final out to send West Chester to the home half of the seventh trailing by seven.
In similar circumstances a year ago, West Chester rebounded exceptionally well in the nightcap in a must-win contest vs Shippensburg. West Chester had dropped its opener on Thursday afternoon against Gannon a year ago by a final score of 6-2 before rebounding for a 4-0 shutout victory over Shippensburg in the nightcap to advance to Friday afternoon where the Golden Rams registered a pair of victories over Lock Haven and Seton Hill to set up a Championship Saturday matchup opposite Gannon.
