Softball Opens Postseason With Best-of-3 Quarterfinal At Shepherd Wednesday

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SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV - West Chester University's softball squad hits the road for the first round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference postseason tournament when the Golden Rams head to West Virginia to take on Shepherd University in a Best-of-3 quarterfinal round series against the Rams. Game 1 is slated for Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

There is limited spectator viewing areas in the outfield at Sara Cree Field on the campus of Shepherd University. 

The Golden Rams are making their 11th PSAC Tournament appearance under the guidance of head coach Diane Lokey. The Golden Rams last won the PSAC Tournament in 2017 while reaching the championship series on three occasions (2011, 2017 and 2018).

        West Chester (24-12) vs. Shepherd (25-10)
        PSAC Softball Quarterfinal (Best of 3)
        Sara Cree Field (Shepherdstown, WV)
 
    ABOUT THE MATCHUP: West Chester and Shepherd meet in the PSAC Tournament for the first time. Shepherd took the regular-season series, 3 games to 1. However,     all four contests were tight ballgames. Shepherd swept a doubleheader on the road in West Chester at the beginning of April. The Rams took game one, 11-6, and then     prevailed in extra innings, 9-8. Ten days later, Shepherd won 4-3 on its last at bats in the first game of a doubleheader in Shepherdstown. West Chester rallied for a 13-6     victory in the nightcap of that doubleheader.  

ALL-TIME SERIES: West Chester leads, 16-14
PSAC TOURNAMENT SERIES: First meeting
OVERALL POSTSEASON SERIES: West Chester leads, 4-1
WCU HEAD COACH DIANE LOKEY vs. SHEPHERD: 16-14
SHEPHERD HEAD COACH MARISSA LESLIE vs. WCU: 5-4
DIANE LOKEY COACHING RECORD: Overall: 609-371 [.621] (20th season);
      at WCU: 560-344 [.619] (18th season); PSAC: 184-164 [.529]
      in the PSAC Tournament: 21-17

• (Winningest softball head coach at WCU)
• (1 PSAC Championship [2017]; 3 PSAC Championship Game appearances [2011, 2017, 2018])
• (7 PSAC Eastern Division titles)
• (5-time PSAC East Coach of the Year)
• (9 appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament; 3 Atlantic Region Championships)

 
HOW WEST CHESTER GOT HERE: West Chester University finished in third place in the PSAC Eastern Division regular-season standings and earned the third seed in the postseason tournament. The Golden Rams enter the playoffs on the heels of a four-game weekend series sweep over Shippensburg. West Chester is also winners in seven of its last 10 contests. The Golden Rams are hitting .362 as a team with a .517 slugging percentage. The team's .362 batting average currently tops the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

HOW SHEPHERD GOT HERE: Shepherd University finished in second place in the PSAC Eastern Division regular-season standings and earned the second seed in the postseason tournament. The Rams' final four-game series of the regular season against East Stroudsburg was cancelled. The Rams did pick up a non-conference doubleheader against West Liberty University last Sunday and split the twinbill, winning game one, 2-0, before falling in the nightcap, 7-0. Shepherd is hitting .335 as a team and is second behind West Chester in that category. Defensively, Shepherd leads the conference with a .980 fielding percentage.

WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY STORYLINES …

• 5th-yr. Sr., INF Bri Garber is fifth in the PSAC in hitting with a .448 batting average. She has single-handedly re-written the school and the PSAC softball record books during her five years on campus and will graduate as one of the top players to ever play in the PSAC. She is one of only two PSAC players to accumulate more than 300 hits and 200 runs scored. Only one player in conference history has appeared in more games than Garber as well. She is a three-time all-conference and all-region selection as well as former PSAC East and Atlantic Region player of the year in 2018.
• 5th-yr. Sr., 1B Courtney Stump was named PSAC East athlete of the week after her weekend series against Shippensburg in which she hit three home runs and knocked in 16 runs. She is hitting .347 on the season with 10 doubles and six homers.
• So., C Trisha Kopinetz has provided much of the power in the Golden Rams lineup this spring. She has 10 home runs on the season and owns a .721 slugging percentage. West Chester's backstop was named the NFCA National Athlete of the Week the third week of the season. She started the year 9-for-10 with whopping 3.029 OPS, including three doubles and three home runs.
• Fr., RHP Mary Picozzi has been the workhorse inside the circle in her first year in college. She leads the club with 12 wins to her credit, including a five-inning no-hitter early in the season. She tossed a two-hitter at Shippensburg, allowing just one unearned run, on the last weekend of the regular season. Picozzi should see the bulk of the innings in the PSAC Quarterfinal as well.