West Chester vs Mansfield
Game Details: March 28 I 1/3:00 P.M.
Location: WCU Softball Field (West Chester, Pa.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Watch
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Mansfield Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
West Chester at Shippensburg
Game Details: March 29 1/3:00 P.M.
Location: Robb Field (Shippensburg, Pa.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Watch
SHIP Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester played its PSAC East home opener vs Kutztown on Tuesday afternoon, splitting with the Golden Bears after dropping the opener by a 6-3 final in eight innings before Hailey Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) delivered a walk-off double in the home half of the seventh in game two to lift West Chester to a 7-6 victory. The first game was a pitcher’s duel throughout much of the game, as Kutztown held a 1-0 lead into the home sixth inning, and the game went to extra innings, tied at 1-1. Kutztown scored five runs in the eighth, including a three-run home run to take a five-run lead into the bottom of the eighth, which proved important as West Chester tried to mount a late comeback thanks to an RBI double by Julia Miller (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) and a Casey Best (Wilmington, Del./Concord) sacrifice fly.
In the nightcap, West Chester and Kutztown traded runs throughout the early going until Kutztown scored three in the fifth to erase a 4-3 deficit and grab a 6-4 lead heading into the home fifth. Thanks in part to an RBI single down the left-field line by Melvin, West Chester erased the deficit in the fifth before winning the game with a walk-off double off the bat of Melvin into the right center gap, which scored Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) who had singled earlier in the inning. Alyssa Tooley (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) earned her third win of the year in the circle with two hitless innings in relief of Jaelyn Silfies (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) and Ciliberto.
Flock Talk
After a four-hit day in the doubleheader vs Kutztown on Tuesday, Ciliberto is now first on the team in batting average at .404 (19-for-47) on the year with nine runs scored and six RBI. Mairead Hopkins (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) and Paige Marabell (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) are tied for the team lead in home runs with six each, while batting .375 (33-for-88) and .360 (27-for-75), respectively. Marabell holds a slim 25-24 lead in RBI over Hopkins, while Hopkins leads the team in runs scored with 24. With her excellent performance on Tuesday, including her clutch 2-for-3 effort in the nightcap, Melvin has raised her average above .300 on the year, now batting .302 (19-for-63) with 19 runs scored and eight RBI, while also going 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts.
In the circle, Makenzie Edwards (Atco, N.J./Hammonton) suffered her third loss of the year in extra innings on Tuesday but remains 7-3 on the year with a 2.03 ERA as opponents bat .209 against her. She has struck out a staff-best 50 in 62.0 innings of work, including two complete games, two saves, and one shutout. Ciliberto is 6-3 on the year with a 2.12 ERA and an opponent batting average of .239 with 48 strikeouts in 69.1 innings of work, including three complete games in a staff-best 12 starts. Tooley and Silfies are 3-0 and 1-0, respectively, with ERAs of 1.07 and 1.68, along with opponent batting averages of .178 and .273. Tooley has struck out 12 in 19.2 innings of work, including appearances in both games on Tuesday.
Rank and File
West Chester broke into the NFCA Top 25 this week, as the team appeared in a tie for 25th in the latest Division II Softball Coaches Poll. West Chester is one of three PSAC East teams ranked, with East Stroudsburg at 11th and Kutztown at 16th.
It’s an Honor
Hopkins was named to the NFCA Division II Player of the Year watchlist on Thursday afternoon as one of 15 players from the Atlantic Region and one of 116 from around Division II to be listed.
Late Game Heroics
West Chester has had a flair for the dramatic since its return north, as four of its six PSAC East games have been decided in extra innings or in the home half of the seventh. West Chester played back-to-back extra inning games at Millersville to open PSAC East play with a split earlier in March before falling to No. 16 Kutztown in extra innings on Tuesday and bouncing back with a walk-off win in the home half of the seventh in the nightcap against the Golden Bears thanks to a Hailey Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) double.
Road Warriors
Fifteen of the Golden Rams' 17 wins have come away from home this season. West Chester is 8-3 in true road games, including a split at then-top-10 foe Wilmington to open the year, and 7-1 in neutral-site games after its Florida trip.
Series History
Since 2006, West Chester holds a 29-7 lead in the series against Mansfield, including three wins in four meetings against the Mounts a year ago. A 5-4 loss in nine innings at Mansfield last March was the Golden Rams' first loss to the Mounties since an 11-10 setback at Mansfield in April 2022.
Since 1988, West Chester trails Shippensburg 44-81 in the all-time series despite winning the final two games of the series in West Chester a year ago. Shippensburg holds a slim 6-4 lead in the last 10 meetings, thanks in part to a three-game winning streak from the end of 2023 through the first meetings in 2024.
Scouting Mansfield
Mansfield (4-12, 2-6) enters play after being swept at Bloomsburg on Tuesday, dropping game one by a 4-3 final before falling in the nightcap by a 9-1 margin in six innings, to drop to 2-10 in games away from home on the season.
Sarah Shupp and Caydence Macik are first and second on the team in batting average, hitting .349 (15-for-43) and .310 (13-for-42), respectively, on the season. With four doubles and one triple, Shupp is first on the team in RBI with nine, while Melissa Demo, who is batting .280 (14-for-50), leads the team in runs scored with eight, while also going 6-for-7 on stolen base attempts. In the circle, Annabella Putnam and Reilly Storer are 3-5 and 1-4 on the year with 3.08 and 3.38 ERAs, along with .218 and .285 opponent batting averages. Putnam, who has thrown 50.0 innings so far this season, has a staff-best 51 strikeouts to her name. Emma Maruer, who began her career as a Golden Ram, is 0-3 on the year in six appearances with a 5.36 ERA and a .313 opponents batting average through 15.2 innings.
Scouting Shippensburg
Shippensburg (14-10, 3-5) enters play on Saturday following an important sweep of Millersville at home on Tuesday afternoon to bounce back from an 0-4 effort last weekend, falling to ESU 2-1 and 3-2 on Friday before falling to Bloomsburg 13-2 and 16-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Caitlyn Martell and Emily Lafferty both bat north of .400 on the year, batting .434 and .402 on the season with 33 hits in 76 and 82 at-bats, respectively. Martell has 10 extra-base hits to her credit with 24 RBI, while Lafferty leads the team in runs scored with 24, while also going 22-for-23 on stolen base attempts. Aryanna Bridell is batting .356 (21-for-59) on the season with nine extra-base hits, including a team-best five home runs, as she has a team-best .678 slugging percentage through 24 games.
In the circle, Alicia Ball and Dani Hayward are 5-5 and 4-3 on the year, with ERAs of 2.63 and 3.91, respectively, along with opponent batting averages of .237 and .290. Ball has already fanned 75 batters in 61.1 innings of work, which includes 10 starts and seven complete games.
