Tournament Central
Buy Tickets
QUAKERTOWN, Pa.- Winners of four of its last six to end the regular season, including an important sweep of Shippensburg a week ago, the third-seeded West Chester University softball team (30-20, 18-13) has shifted its collective attention to the postseason as the Golden Rams will open the PSAC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Veterans Park in Quakertown against No. 2 seed Seton Hill (35-15, 23-9) beginning at 12:30 p.m.
FAN INFORMATION
Ticket sales are online only and will be cashless throughout the 2024 PSAC Softball Tournament. Day passes for the first two days of the Championships (Wednesday/Thursday) will cost $15, while day passes for Friday and Saturday will cost $10. Children 12 and under and students from PSAC member institutions with current, valid IDs will be admitted free of charge. Fans must purchase their tickets online via this
link.
THE BRACKET
West Chester will play in the second set of games on Wednesday and, with a victory, will advance to face the winner of the East Stroudsburg/Slippery Rock/Bloomsburg game at 10 a.m. on Thursday. With a loss, West Chester would find itself just one more loss away from elimination and would need to win an elimination game against another one-loss team on Thursday at 12:30. Should West Chester fall into the loser's bracket, the Golden Rams would need to win twice on both Thursday and Friday to advance back to the Conference Championship game for the first time since they won it in 2021. The road to the Championship is much simpler with victories as the team must win just once daily through Saturday to be crowned as PSAC Champions again in 2024.
SERIES INFORMATION
When West Chester hoisted the PSAC Championship trophy in 2021, the Golden Rams won a game in Greensburg opposite Seton Hill, winning the first game by a 15-2 final before taking game two by a 4-2 final. Since 2015, West Chester and Seton Hill have met seven times, with all seven matchups coming in Tournament play, including six in the PSAC Tournament. In PSAC Tournament games against the Griffins, West Chester is a perfect 6-0, outscoring Seton Hill by a 46-13 margin such games. The lone exception in this series came during the 2015 season when West Chester and Seton Hill met in the NCAA Tournament in Buckhannon, West Virginia, as the Griffins used a three-run fifth inning to escape with a victory over the Golden Rams.
FLOCK TALK
Back in the PSAC Tournament for the second year in a row and 13
th time since the 2010 season, hoping to improve upon its performance from a year ago, which saw the PSAC East regular season Champions fall twice on opening day for an uncharacteristically early exit. West Chester enters the Championships with another 30-win season (30-20) under its belt, including a record of 18-13 in league action, which allowed the Golden Rams to earn the third seed and guarantee themselves just one game on Wednesday when the Tournament gets underway, regardless of result.
Traditionally one of the top offensive units in the PSAC, it has been pitching and defense that has gotten the job done for West Chester in 2024, as the Golden Rams rank second in the league in ERA at 3.02 while also ranking second in batting average against at .239 on the year. The efforts in the circle from the trio of
Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon), Makenzie Edwards (Atco, N.J./Hammonton), and
Mary Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) have kept opponents off balance and been crucial to success throughout the season. Ciliberto once again leads the staff in most categories, including wins (17), ERA (2.20), WHIP (.98), complete games (11), and strikeouts (122) while ranking just .01 behind Edwards for the lowest batting average against at .226 on the year. Edwards has complimented Ciliberto very well throughout the year, posting a record of 10-7 with a 3.06 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP, and a .225 batting average against 123.2 innings of work. Edwards also ranks just behind Ciliberto in strikeouts, reaching the century mark for the year in a heartbreaking 11-inning setback at Shepherd on Saturday night in the regular-season finale. Picozzi, who became the first freshman to pitch and win the clinching game of the PSAC Championship at Seton Hill in 2021, has provided excellent depth to the Golden Rams this year as well, pitching to a mark of 3-3 on the season with a 4.93 ERA and a .297 batting average against in 44 innings of work. Picozzi has tossed two complete games in her senior season as a Golden Ram and has struck out 38 while allowing just 11 free passes along the way.
While the Golden Ram pitching staff has done well for much of the season, the West Chester offense remains tremendously dangerous as five players bat north of .300 entering the PSAC Tournament.
Madison Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) has continued her historic career in 2024 as she leads the team in a host of categories, including batting average (.403), hits (71), runs (48), stolen bases (41), and on-base percentage (.470). The graduate student who has roamed center field throughout her tenure as a Golden Ram permanently etched her name into the history books this year as she broke the WCU and PSAC career records for hits, runs, and stolen bases. Melvin remains the active career leader at all levels of collegiate softball in career hits while also ranking second among active Division II players in career runs scored.
Mairead Hopkins (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) is second on the team in batting average at .333 on the year, followed by
Grace Aguilar (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) at .316,
Katelyn Rittenbaugh (Donaldson, Pa./Pine Grove) at .305, and
Casey Best (Wilmington, Del./Concord) at .300.
Hopkins wrapped up her sophomore regular season with the second-highest batting average on the team, batting an outstanding .333 (44-of-132) on the year with nine extra-base hits, including five home runs, which is tied for second-most on the team, trailing only Aguilar. Hopkins posted the third-best batting average on the team in league action among players who played in at least 30 East games for West Chester and hit all five of her home runs against PSAC East competition, including two in an 8-2 victory over Shepherd in early April. Hopkins also ended the regular season with the top batting average among all designated players in the PSAC East as the lone Eastern Division DP to bat north of .300 on the year.
Aguilar ended the 2024 regular season with a .316 batting average (48-of-152) with 19 extra-base hits to her credit as she led the Golden Rams in both triples (5) and home runs (6). Aguilar is also tied for second in the PSAC in triples as the league heads to Quakertown, as she is one of six players in the PSAC to have five or more triples in the regular season. Aguilar, who, along with Rittenbaugh, eclipsed the 200-hit plateau earlier this year, ended her regular season with 38 runs scored and a team-high 44 RBI. Aguilar also ended the year with a .411 on-base percentage and a .541 slugging percentage while also ending the regular season with a .916 fielding percentage.
Rittenbaugh turned in another tremendous season in the Golden Rams infield in 2023 as she batted .310 (48-of-155) at the plate with 12 extra-base hits (12 doubles, one home run) while scoring 18 runs and driving in 21 more. Rittenbaugh also worked 17 walks during the year, just two shy of her career-high, heading to the PSAC Tournament in Quakertown, posting a .407 on-base percentage and a .430 slugging percentage. Rittenbaugh was even more impressive at the plate in league play as she led the team in batting average (.371; 36-for-97) while also leading in doubles with eight and ranking second in RBI with 19 in 31 games. Defensively, Rittenbaugh continued to show herself to be one of the top defenders in the PSAC, committing a career-low seven errors in the 2024 regular season and finishing with an excellent .958 fielding percentage.
Best, the final Golden Ram to bat north of .300 at the end of the regular season, enters the PSAC Tournament batting an even .300 on the year with a .763 OPS, 15 runs scored, and 13 RBI. Best has picked up 27 hits, including three extra-base hits (two doubles, one home run) after playing in 41 games with 31 starts. Best has split time at first and behind the plate this season, spending much of the year at first while showing her versatility throughout the 2024 campaign.
SCOUTING SETON HILL
Seton Hill enters as the second seed in the PSAC West after completing the regular season with a record of 35-15 and 23-9 in league action. The Griffins sputtered down the stretch of the regular season, dropping five of their last six, with the lone victory being an 8-7 victory in eight innings over IUP in the regular season finale on Saturday evening.
While West Chester enters with one of the top pitching staffs in the PSAC, Seton Hill enters as the top offensive unit in the league, batting a league-best .360 on the year with 418 runs scored, which is 46 more than IUP, who resides in second place in the league in runs. The long ball has been a significant key for Seton Hill this year as the Griffins have hit 59 home runs on the season as a team, led by Camryn Murphy with 14 and Grace Paredes with 13, which rank first and second best in the PSAC. Murphy leads the league in slugging percentage at .827 on the year, while Kassidy Witting leads the league in batting average at a blistering .449 on the season. Nina Grandey leads the PSAC in runs scored with 65 on the year, while Murphy is also the league leader in RBI with 62 on the year.
All told, six Griffins bat north .360 on the year with three players north of .400 as Wittig sits at .449, while Murphy is second at .420 and Morgan Toal, who is the league leader in doubles with 24 is third, batting a solid .407 on the year. Grandey enters the postseason just shy of the .400 mark on the year, batting a stellar .398, while Paredes bats .373, with Brooklyn Fushima rounding out the six-player group at .368.
In the circle, Seton Hill heads to Quakertown, ranked seventh in the PSAC in ERA, allowing an average of 3.59 runs per game as opponents batted .276 against Griffin, pitching throughout 308.1 innings. Logan Hartman leads the staff in most categories, pitching a record of 20-5 on the year with a 3.08 era and a .261 batting average against, allowing 79 runs (64 earned) on 151 hits while striking out 105 so far this season. Lauren Dellett is second on the staff and has been the primary workhorse for the Griffins this year, pitching to a record of 15-10 with a 3.59 ERA, a WHIP of 1.40 (identical to that of Hartman), and a .270 batting average against, while striking out 183 in 150 innings of work. Dellett leads the PSAC West and ranks fourth in the PSAC overall in strikeouts, trailing only Sarah Davenport (ESU; 273), Madelayne Ruffner (Shepherd; 242), and Callie Sowers (Bloomsburg; 220).
WITH A WIN
With a victory, West Chester would start the PSAC Tournament with a win for the 11th time in the Golden Rams 13 appearances since the 2010 season. A victory would also move West Chester on to game nine on Thursday at 10 a.m., keeping the Golden Rams in a position where the team would need to win just that game to advance to Friday.
Â
