SHIPPENSBURG, PA – Freshman right-hander
Mary Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) picked up the win in both ends of a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) softball doubleheader as visiting West Chester swept Shippensburg on the final day of the regular season Saturday.
West Chester (24-12, 20-12 PSAC East) concluded the regular-season with Saturday's doubleheader at Shippensburg (22-18, 16-16). The Golden Rams finished in third place in the PSAC Eastern Division and received the third seed out of that group for the postseason tournament. They will travel to Shepherdstown, W.Va., on Wednesday for the quarterfinal round of the PSACs. That series is a best-of-three Wednesday and Thursday. Shippensburg was eliminated from postseason play as a result of the four-game sweep at the hands of West Chester this weekend. East Stroudsburg will be the fourth seed now and travel to Kutztown for a quarterfinal series.
Picozzi tossed a complete-game two-hitter in the opener to secure that third seed for the Golden Rams. She allowed just one unearned run in the bottom of the first. In the nightcap, she came on and threw 3.2 innings of relief, allowing four earned runs on six hits.
West Chester scored four in the third and eight in the fourth to end game one early, 12-1. The Golden Rams then responded in the second game with a four-run seventh that tied the contest and added another run in the eighth for an extra-inning win, 13-12.
Madison Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) went 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBI to help fuel the offensive explosion in the third and fourth frames of game one. Fifth-year senior
Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) hit her fifth home run of the season as well.
Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier Prep.) and
Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) each had a pair of hits.
In the nightcap,
Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) and Stump combined to go 7-for-11 with nine RBI. Garber hit a key three-run triple during the seventh-inning comeback while Stump hit second home run of the day and sixth of the season.
Trisha Kopinetz (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) was 3-for-5 while
Kate Rittenbaugh (Donaldson, Pa./Pine Grove) came off the bench and went 3-for-4 as well in game two.
