QUAKERTOWN, Pa.- For the second year in a row, West Chester (34-18) squared off against Shippensburg in game 12 of the PSAC Tournament with each team in desperate need of a victory to stave off elimination following a disappointing game one setback vs Kutztown earlier in the day.
Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) got things rolling for West Chester with a double to left-center to open the contest before coming around to score on a double down the left field line off the bat of Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster), which gave the purple and gold an early 1-0 lead. This lead grew moments later when Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) roped a single back up the middle to score Maseth and give West Chester a commanding 2-0 lead, which also chased the Shippensburg starting pitcher just four batters into the game. West Chester kept its offense rolling when Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) roped an RBI single to right center to give West Chester an early 3-0 lead. Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) came around to score when Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport) reached on an error before Tori McCoach (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan) delivered with a three-run home run to left to give West Chester a commanding 7-0 lead heading to the home half of the first.
Shippensburg answered back with a run of its own during the home half of the first to cut the deficit to 7-1.
In the top of the second, West Chester got its run right back with an RBI single from Stump that scored Maseth to give West Chester a commanding 8-1 lead.
During the home half of the third, Shippensburg cut the deficit in half with a three-run home run that closed the book on Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) and cut the lead to 8-4. Gearhart lasted just two innings surrendering four runs on six hits while striking out one. Maegan Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) entered and allowed another run to score via an RBI double, which cut the Golden Ram lead to 8-5.
McCollester answered back with her ninth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field, which gave West Chester a 9-5 lead heading to the home half of the fourth.
Shippensburg cut into the West Chester lead once again during the bottom of the fourth to make the score 9-6 heading into the fifth.
In the top of the fifth, West Chester strung together three consecutive leadoff singles to load the bases with no outs looking to extend its lead. Maseth came through with an RBI fielders choice to score a run and keep the bases loaded with no outs for McCollester. McCollester followed that up with a long home run to left center, which extended the Golden Ram lead to 14-6.
West Chester closed out the contest with a stellar play in center field by Hartman, which gave West Chester the victory in the high-scoring affair.
Kavanagh (8-4) closed out the contest pitching the final three innings scattering just two runs on four hits while striking out three to earn the victory and keep West Chester alive.
West Chester will be back in action on Friday afternoon beginning at 12:30 p.m. against a familiar foe in reigning PSAC Tournament Champion Gannon.
