MELBOURNE, Fl.- After opening its stay at the Space Coast Games with a split against Southern New Hampshire yesterday afternoon, the West Chester University softball team (8-3) picked up a pair of wins today, defeating Felician by a 6-1 final in the first game before downing Columbus State by a 4-0 final.
Game One: WCU 6 Felician 1
WP: Danielle Ciliberto (5-2)
LP: Riley Williams (1-5)
Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) picked her fifth win of the season with an excellent complete-game effort, which saw her surrender just one run on three hits while walking one and striking out three.
West Chester jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning courtesy of RBI singles from Ciliberto and
Hailey Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) and a bases-loaded
Lauren Daniels () walk to claim an early four-run lead.
Felician cut into deficit with an RBI double in the third but West Chester got that run right back in the home fourth when
Lauryn Kane (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) tripled home
Julia Miller (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) before scoring on an RBI groundout from
Casey Best (Wilmington, Del./Concord) to give the Golden Rams a 6-1 lead.
For Felician, Riley Williams allowed six runs on eight hits and four walks, while Skyle Limbardo pitched three scoreless innings in relief in the loss.
West Chester scored its six runs on eight hits and one Felician error, led by a pair of two-hit days from Kane and Melvin, while Kane led the team in runs scored with two.
Game Two: WCU 4 Columbus State 0
WP: Makenzie Edwards (2-1)
LP: Khloe Shears (1-1)
Makenzie Edwards (Atco, N.J./Hammonton) turned in perhaps her best outing of the spring with a complete-game, three-hit shutout of a well-seasoned Columbus State team that entered with 18 victories on the season.
Edwards allowed only one walk and struck out three to improve to 2-1 on the season.
With a scoreless game heading into the fourth,
Paige Marabell (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) tripled home a pair of runs, which allowed pinch runner
Presley Foote (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) to score on a
Holly Muni (Hamilton, N.J./Allentown) sac fly, which gave West Chester a 3-0 lead.
Kane continued her big day in the fifth, picking up another RBI single to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Columbus State registered its final hit of the game, a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth, before Edwards retired her next eight in order to lift the Golden Rams to their eighth win of the season.
Khloe Shears suffered the loss for Columbus State, her first setback of the season, after allowing four runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
West Chester scored its four runs on eight hits, including a 3-for-4 game from Best and another two-hit game from Kane.
Up Next:
West Chester will enjoy a well-deserved day off tomorrow before returning to action on Tuesday with a doubleheader against Bloomfield and Mercy, with the first pitch vs Bloomfield set for 10 a.m.
