STROUDSBURG, Pa.- The West Chester University softball team (32-17) is preparing for its third NCAA Tournament appearance in as many seasons this week, as the team will open its NCAA Tournament campaign vs Shippensburg (31-20) on Thursday afternoon at Creekview Park in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania at 12:30 p.m.. West Chester returns to the NCAA Tournament this week as the fifth seed in the field, while Shippensburg earned the fourth seed.
The simplest road to the Super Regionals next weekend for West Chester is to go 3-0 with wins on Thursday afternoon, Friday morning, and Saturday morning. With a win on Thursday, West Chester will advance to face the winner of East Stroudsburg/Bowie State on Friday at 11 a.m., while a loss would have the Golden Rams wait for a 1:30 p.m. elimination game on Friday against the loser of ESU/Bowie State.
If West Chester goes 1-1 through its first two games between Thursday and Friday, the Golden Rams would be forced to play another elimination game on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. in order to earn a spot in the pod finals on Saturday.
If West Chester can go 2-0 to start the Tournament as it did a year ago, the Golden Rams would find themselves just one win shy of a return to the Super Regionals next weekend.
Fan Information
East Stroudsburg has launched a Championship Central page, which is available
here. Tickets will be sold on-site and will be cash only, with prices set at $10 for adults and $5 for students (with ID), children, seniors, military personnel, and first responders. For fans unable to make the trip to
Creekview Park,
live stats and live video will be available
here.
The Field
West Chester is one of six PSAC teams in the NCAA Tournament field, with all six teams hailing from the PSAC East. East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Shepherd, Shippensburg, West Chester, and Bloomsburg secured seeds one through six, while Charleston (W.V.) and Bowie State rounded out the field with the seventh and eighth seeds. Charleston and Bowie State earned their place in the field by virtue of Mountain East and CIAA Tournament Championships last week. East Stroudsburg will host the Golden Rams and Raiders this weekend, along with Bowie State, as ESU opens its NCAA Tournament at 11 a.m. on Thursday against Bowie State.
Flock Talk
Batting .351 (59-for-168) on the year with 17 doubles and eight home runs,
Mairead Hopkins has led the Golden Rams for much of the 2025 season. Hopkins leads the team in multi-hit games with 17 and also enjoyed the longest hitting and on-base streaks by any Golden Ram this season at 15 and 22 games, respectively. Hopkins is one of just two Golden Rams to record four or more hits in a single game this season, with
Julia Miller being the lone other to do so. Hopkins is also second on the team in multi-RBI games with 12, trailing only RBI and home run leader
Paige Marabell, who has 14 such games. Marabell is second on the team in batting average at .336 with 50 hits in 169 at-bats, including 13 doubles, one triple, and her team-leading 12 home runs with 47 RBI on the season.
Danielle Ciliberto and
Casey Best are the final two Golden Rams batting north of .300 entering the NCAA Tournament, as Ciliberto is also batting .336 with 41 hits in 122 at-bats, including five doubles and three home runs, while Best is batting .311 with 47 hits, including nine doubles and four home runs. Best has 30 RBI and 25 runs scored, while Ciliberto has driven in 25 and scored 17 more.
Hailey Melvin is knocking on the door of .300 on the year as she heads into the Tournament batting .298 (42-for-141) with five doubles and four triples, along with a team-best 39 runs scored and 10 stolen bases, which is tied with Miller for the team lead.
In the circle, Ciliberto is 17-7 on the year with a 1.69 ERA and a .255 opponent's batting average with 93 strikeouts in 153.1 innings of work. Ciliberto has thrown 11 complete games this season, including three shutouts, and has also earned three saves.
Makenzie Edwards is 9-8 on the year with a 2.71 ERA and a staff-best .241 opponent's batting average with 90 strikeouts in 118.2 innings of work, including four complete games, two shutouts, and two saves.
Alyssa Tooley has been a valuable arm in relief for head coach
Diane Lokey and the Golden Rams, going 5-2 in 18 appearances with five starts. In these 18 appearances, Tooley has posted a 2.93 ERA and a .261 opponent's batting average with 29 strikeouts in 40.2 innings of work.
We Are Honored
West Chester landed three players on the All-PSAC East squad, with Ciliberto earning First Team honors as a Utility/Pitcher.
Paige Marabell and
Mairead Hopkins earned Second Team honors at catcher and outfield, respectively.
Not Since 2015
With WCU missing the PSAC Tournament this season due to the split at Bloomsburg on the last day of the regular season, the PSAC has still not had a repeat PSAC Champion since 2015, when California (Pa.) captured the crown for the second consecutive year.
Late Inning Heroics
West Chester enters the NCAA Tournament outscoring teams 68-31 in the sixth and seventh innings, including a 30-8 lead in the seventh inning. West Chester is 6-2 when tied after six innings this season and also has six wins when trailing after five complete.
Two Runs or Less
West Chester is 23-2 when holding opponents to two runs or fewer this season. Conversely, the Golden Rams are 9-15 when opponents score three or more.
On Neutral Ground
West Chester is 7-1 in neutral-site games this season, with all seven of those wins coming during the Golden Rams' Spring Break trip to Florida in mid-March.
Keep the Line Moving
West Chester has been excellent with runners on base this season, successfully advancing runners 50.8 % (400-for-788) of the time and batting .330 (147-for-445) with runners in scoring position. When the Golden Rams have a runner on third with less than two outs, West Chester has 67 RBI in 110 opportunities. The Golden Rams also bat an excellent .460 on the year with bases loaded, led by Hopkins, who enters play 35-for-103 (.340) in such situations.
Let's See the Righty
Offensively, West Chester is batting .306 (340-for-1110) against right-handed pitching, while batting just .190 (45-for-237) off left-handed pitching. In the circle, West Chester has held righties to a .245 (263-of-1073) batting average while left-handed batters bat .294 (67-of-228) against the Golden Rams.
Back At It
Thursday's game will be West Chester's first game since its regular season finale on April 27.
NCAA Tournament History
West Chester will make its 13
th NCAA Tournament appearance this year, entering the Tournament with a record of 33-27 and four Atlantic Regional Championships (2014, 2018, 2019, and 2021). The Golden Rams nearly returned to the Super Regionals for the first time since 2019 (Super Regionals were not played in 2021) last season in a pod hosted by Charleston (W.V.), but fell to the eventual Atlantic Region Champions twice on the final day of the opening weekend, bringing the 2024 season to a close.
Series History
Since 1988, West Chester trails Shippensburg 45-84 in the all-time series. Shippensburg holds a 6-4 lead in the last 10 meetings, including wins in three of four against the Golden Rams in 2025. Thursday's meeting will be the first NCAA Tournament clash between the two PSAC East rivals in program history.
Scouting Shippensburg
Shippensburg will be an all-too-familiar foe for West Chester this week, as the Golden Rams and Raiders will meet for the fifth and potentially sixth time in the NCAA Tournament in Stroudsburg.
Offensively, Caitlyn Martell leads the team with a .416 batting average with 74 hits, including 12 doubles, five triples, and five home runs with 40 RBI and 41 runs. Brie Wilmot leads the team in home runs (eight), and RBI (43) while batting .327 on the year with 51 hits, including six doubles and a triple. Emily Lafferty is second on the team in batting average, batting .359 with 55 hits, while tying for the team lead in runs scored with 41. Lafferty also leads the team in stolen bases, stealing 28 on 29 attempts.
In the circle, Dani Hayward and Alicia Ball have led the Raiders, going 13-5 and 11-12 with ERAs of 3.01 and 3.29 and opponent batting averages of .222 and .270. Ball has fanned 161 in 146.1 innings of work while Hayward has struck out 103 in 117 innings with 11 complete games, while Ball has 17 complete games, including three shutouts to her name.
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