QUAKERTOWN, Pa.- The West Chester University softball team (34-18) finds itself in an all too familiar position entering tomorrow afternoon's PSAC semifinals as the Golden Rams will need to duplicate the feat they accomplished a year ago and when back-to-back games to stave off elimination and play for a PSAC Championship on Saturday afternoon. West Chester's first opponent in its quest for a return to Championship Saturday will be its foe from Championship Saturday a year ago in Gannon who enters after going 1-1 earlier today as well. This contest is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. in an effort to avoid inclement weather expected to move into the area tomorrow afternoon.
Tickets for the contest will be $10 for the full day of softball from Veterans Park in Quakertown.
On Thursday afternoon, West Chester followed a very similar script to the one it followed one year ago as the Golden Rams were clipped in game one by a hot-hitting Kutztown team by a final score of 8-3 before coming back in the nightcap to defeat Shippensburg and send the Raiders packing for the second year in a row by a final of 14-6 in five innings.
In the first game of the afternoon, West Chester and Kutztown traded runs in the first inning before Kutztown recorded a solo shot in the second and another in the third to claim a 3-1 lead. This lead held up until the seventh when the Golden Bears exploded for five runs, which would prove critical by the conclusion of the game. In the bottom of the seventh, West Chester attempted to mount a rally beginning a two-run home run off the bat of freshman Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport). Unfortunately, this was all the Golden Rams were able to muster in the five-run setback marking the second year in a row that West Chester has gone 1-1 to open the PSAC Tournament.
In the second game of the afternoon and game 12 of the Tournament, West Chester and Shippensburg met once again and it was all West Chester from the very beginning of the contest as the Golden Rams offense exploded for seven runs in the opening framer before adding another in the second to claim an 8-1 lead heading to the third inning of play. In the home half of the third, Shippensburg answered back with four runs of its own to trim the deficit to 8-5. West Chester and Shippensburg traded runs in the fourth to make the score 9-6 heading to the fifth, which would prove to be the final inning of play. In the fifth, West Chester's offense exploded once again thanks in large part to a grand slam off the bat of Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), which gave West Chester a commanding 14-6 lead that the purple and gold would go on to win by. Maegen Kavanagh (Easton, Pa./Easton) earned the victory in game two as she went three innings in relief of Gearhart scattering just two runs on four hits while striking out three to improve to 7-4 on the season and to send West Chester onto Day Three of the PSAC Tournament for the third year in a row.
West Chester will face another all too familiar foe in the next round as the Golden Rams are slated to do battle against the Gannon Golden Knights whom the Golden Rams played to a record of 2-2 against in 2018 with all four matchups coming in the postseason. Gannon captured its two victories of the series in Quakertown with the most important victory coming in the PSAC Championship game while West Chester got its revenge during the Super Regionals when the Golden Rams swept the Golden Knights.
Gannon enters play just one loss away from elimination as well after playing to a 1-1 record this afternoon with a loss to Lock Haven to begin the day before recording a thrilling come from behind victory over Seton Hill in the nightcap.
Against Lock Haven, Bald Eagle pitcher Bekah Slattery was a major key in defeating Gannon as she fanned 15 batters and held the Golden Knights to just three hits on the afternoon while also depositing a two-run home run that proved to be the game-winner in the 4-2 Lock Haven victory over Gannon, which forced the Golden Knights into the losers bracket.
In need of a victory to keep its season alive, things got off to a poor start for Gannon as Seton Hill scored four runs in the opening frame to claim an early 4-0 lead. Unfortunately, for Seton Hill this lead was short-lived as the potent Gannon offense roared back with three runs of its own during the home half of the first before adding another two runs during the second to claim a 5-4 lead. This would be the extent of the offensive production between the two sides as neither team was able to push any more runs across for the duration of the contest, thus, giving Gannon a clutch, come from behind victory to set up a rematch with the Golden Rams tomorrow morning at 12:30 p.m.
The 2019 Gannon softball squad is strikingly similar to its 2018 PSAC Tournament Championship team as Madi Beining (15-6, 2.12 ERA) and Kennedy DeMatteis (9-5, 2.90 ERA) still provide one of the best one-two punches in the league in the circle with Kellyn Perich (3-2, 5.25 ERA) providing needed depth to the Golden Knights rotation. Meanwhile, Sarah Ingerick leads the charge from an offensive standpoint batting .386 on the year with six home runs and 22 RBI while Kaity Stocker leads the team in home runs with nine home runs on the season. Rachel Tanilli is a close second on the home run chart as she has eight home runs on the year while also maintaining a .317 batting average on the season. Opposing pitchers must be careful opposite the Gannon lineup as eight of the Golden Knights starters bat above .300 while another starter bats above .285, thus, forcing opposing pitchers to make good pitches throughout the game if they are to retire the potent Golden Knight offense.
With a victory on Friday morning, West Chester will advance to another elimination game set to begin at 3:30 p.m. opposite the loser of the Kutztown/Lock Haven contest beginning at 10 a.m. Should West Chester fall in game one tomorrow afternoon that will bring the Golden Rams stint in Quakertown to its conclusion and leave the Golden Rams to anxiously await the decision of the Selection Committee to find out when and where their season will continue with the selection show set to air on Monday, May 6th at 10 a.m. on NCAA.com.
