West Chester at East Stroudsburg
Game Details: Tuesday, April 22 I 1/3 P.M.
Location: Creekview Park (Stroudsburg, Pa.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Video
Series: 90-88
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
ESU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester went 3-1 over the weekend, including a sweep of Mansfield on Friday by 10-2 and 9-5 finals to complete a season sweep of the Mounties, along with a split against Shippensburg on Saturday with a 3-2 comeback victory in game one before dropping the nightcap by a 4-3 final. On Saturday against Shippensburg, West Chester was held scoreless and to just two hits through six innings before a two-RBI double by Mairead Hopkins tied the game at 2-2 and Hailey Melvin played the hero on her senior day with an RBI single up the middle to score Hopkins and lift West Chester to the comeback victory. In the nightcap, West Chester trailed by two early but jumped out to a 3-2 lead after two innings, courtesy of a two-RBI single by Julia Miller and an RBI single by Tess Kearney before Shippensburg scratched across two runs of its own in the sixth to escape with the comeback victory.
Flock Talk
Last week, West Chester batted .335 (71-for-212) as a team, outscoring opponents 49-26 with six home runs, thanks to three from Paige Marabell, along with one each from Mairead Hopkins, Danielle Ciliberto, and Casey Best. West Chester saw eight players bat north of .300 on the week, led by Hopkins, who was 12-for-27 (.444) with five RBI, five runs scored, five doubles, and one home run, while Gianna Liciardello was 6-for-15 (.400) with four runs scored, two RBI, and two doubles. Marabell led the team in RBI with 10 thanks to her team-leading three home runs as she batted .375 on the week with nine hits in 24 at-bats. In the circle, West Chester’s pitching staff held opponents to a .285 batting average (59 hits) and 26 runs, while striking out 30, led by Ciliberto, who fanned 14 in 28.1 innings of work. Ciliberto was 4-0 on the week with a save in seven appearances (four starts) while Alyssa Tooley and Makenzie Edwards both appeared in four games each, posting records of 2-1 and 0-1, respectively. Ciliberto led the staff with a 0.99 ERA and a .268 opponents’ batting average, while Tooley finished the week with a 2.74 ERA and a .259 opponent batting average.
Currently on a six-game hit streak and a 10-game on-base streak, both of which are the best active streaks on the team, Hopkins leads the squad in batting at .383 (57-for-149) with 16 doubles and eight home runs for 33 RBI and 36 runs scored. Hopkins has 17 multi-hit games to her name, while Marabell, who is second on the team in batting average at .357 with a team-best 10 home runs and 42 RBI, is second in multi-hit games with 13, while leading the team in multi-RBI games with 13 as well.
In the circle, Ciliberto is 15-5 on the year with a 1.81 ERA and a .254 opponent batting average in 135.2 innings of work. The junior has two saves and 10 complete games to her name, while striking out 86 and walking just 16. Edwards is 8-7 on the season with a 3.03 ERA and a .247 opponent batting average with 82 strikeouts, while Tooley is 5-2 with a 2.81 ERA and a .247 opponent batting average in 37.1 innings of work in her rookie season.
Hot Streak
After suffering a five-game losing streak in early April, which included a pair of losses at Shippensburg, West Chester has won 10-of-13, including splits against Shepherd, Millersville, Kutztown, and Shippensburg, along with sweeps of Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, and Mansfield.
It’s Foggy
West Chester’s run, which saw the Golden Rams go 6-2 last week, vaulted the Golden Rams right back into the PSAC Tournament conversation as the season enters its final week. Very little has been decided to this point as East Stroudsburg retains a slim lead atop the East 20-5-1 while five other teams vie for the remaining four spots. Shepherd is second at 17-8-1 on the year, followed by Kutztown and Bloomsburg at 16-10, West Chester at 15-11, and Shippensburg at 14-12. With this in mind, West Chester knows that the results of its three doubleheaders this week against East Stroudsburg, Shepherd, and Bloomsburg will determine whether or not a return trip to defend its PSAC Title in Quakertown will be in the cards for this spring.
Cardiac Kids
West Chester is 15-10 in PSAC East play after opening league action on March 18 with a split at Millersville. Six of these 25 games have been decided in extra innings, with three more (the 7-6 victory over Kutztown on March 25, the 5-4 game two victory over Lock Haven last Monday, and the 3-2 comeback victory over Shippensburg on Saturday) coming via a seventh-inning walk-off. Hailey Melvin has played the hero in two of these three seventh-inning walkoffs, hitting a double against Kutztown on March 25 and a single up the middle on Saturday against Shippensburg. Paige Marabell was the hero against Lock Haven as she lined a single into left to lift the Golden Rams to that victory. West Chester nearly found itself in extra innings for a seventh time and second time in as many games in the nightcap with Bloomsburg in the first doubleheader with the Huskies earlier this season, but Alyssa Tooley entered in relief and got a big strikeout to help West Chester leave the Huskies' tying run stranded on second.
Rank and File
West Chester appeared in the first Division II softball alphabetical rankings of the year on Wednesday afternoon, appearing as one of 10 teams under consideration for formal numerical ranking when those rankings begin next Wednesday afternoon. West Chester is in search of its third NCAA Tournament appearance in as many years. The NCAA Division II Softball Selection Show will air on NCAA.com on Monday, May 5.
Series History
West Chester retains a slim 90-88 lead in the all-time series vs East Stroudsburg after splitting the last four games between the two teams, including two wins by the Golden Rams in Quakertown last May.
Scouting ESU
East Stroudsburg (36-9-1, 20-5-1) enters play this week as the 10th ranked team in Division II softball after going 3-1 last week with a split at Lock Haven on Wednesday (W, 18-3; L,11-5) and a sweep of Millersville (W, 4-1; W, 4-3) on Friday afternoon at Creekview Park.
Abigail Weirich leads the Warriors offensively, batting .432 on the year with a 1.113 OPS and 13 doubles, four triples, and six home runs for a single-season program record 54 RBI on the year. Tatum Kresley is second on the team in batting average at .411, while tying with Weirich for first in runs scored with 47. Delaney Ridell is third on the team in batting average at .356, while leading the squad in home runs with 105 and ranking second in RBI with 51 of her own.
In the circle, Sarah Davenport is 24-2 on the year with a 1.62 ERA and a .169 opponents’ batting average with 282 strikeouts, 20 complete games, and eight shutouts in 172.1 innings of work. Davenport eclipsed the 600 career strikeout plateau on Friday in the sweep of Millersville. Abbie Landrum and Faith Troyer have also been solid options in the circle, going 5-1 and 6-4 on the year with ERAs of 1.92 and 5.31 along with opponent batting averages of .270 and .316. Troyer has struck out 43 in 56.2 innings of work, while Landrum has 37 K’s in 54.2 without a complete game to her name.
