WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University softball team (10-8, 2-0) ran its winning streak to eight in a row on Saturday with a home sweep of Lock Haven (9-9, 1-3) to open PSAC East play. West Chester overcame an early deficit yet again to win game one of the doubleheader by a 5-3 final before racing to a 10-2 win in six innings in the nightcap.
Game One: WCU 5 LHU 3
WP: Danielle Ciliberto (6-4)
LP: Talia Ross (7-2)
Lock Haven jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run home run to center field before
Tess Kearney (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) singled home a pair of runs in the second to tie the game at 2-2.
Lock Haven reclaimed a 3-2 lead with an RBI double in the third before
Ceara O'Neal (Hamilton, N.J./Steinert) blasted a solo shot to left, which tied the score at 3-3 before
Avelyn Van Heyst (Aaronsburg, Pa./Penns Valley) drove in the go-ahead and eventually game-winning run with a sac fly to right, scoring
Kayla Fitzpatrick (Carle Place, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) to give West Chester a 4-3 lead heading into the fourth.
The RBI double in the third was the last run that Ciliberto allowed as she earned her sixth win of the season and moved into solo second-place in career wins with her 62
nd victory as a Golden Ram. Ciliberto got more comfortable as the game went on Saturday, finishing with a final line of three runs (two earned) on eight hits, while striking out three to improve to 6-4.
Paige Marabell (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) added an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI single, which scored Kearney, who had singled and advanced to second via an error earlier in the game.
Talia Ross(7-2) suffered the loss on Saturday afternoon, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out one. Keri Wesneski entered in relief and pitched the final three innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits, while striking out a pair.
Game Two: WCU 10 LHU 2 (5 Innings)
WP: Maci Strechay (1-4)
LP: Marissa Horn (0-1)
Alyssa Tooley (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) got the start in game two and found herself in an early bases-loaded jam, but worked out of trouble quickly, ending the inning with a strikeout to keep the game scoreless heading into the home first.
In the home half of the first, West Chester picked up four quick hits, including a two-run blast off the bat of Marabell to take an early 2-0 lead into the second.
Tooley kept a no-hitter going into the fourth before Lock Haven broke the shutout and no-hitter with one swing from Hailey Irwin, which cut the deficit to 2-1. Tooley settled back in quickly and got her last two outs of the inning via popups.
Blaire Balestrini homered to right in the fifth, which tied the game at 2-2. This also led to the end of the day for Tooley, as
Maci Strechay (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) entered in relief.
Tooley was stuck with a no-decision on Saturday, allowing just two hits (both home runs) in 4.2 innings of work, while striking out a pair.
Strechay worked out of the inning quickly, and West Chester did not allow the game to remain tied for long as the Golden Rams loaded the bases and Marabell unloaded them with a bases-clearing RBI double into the right center before O'Neal hit her second home run of the day, a two-run shot to left to give West Chester a 7-2 lead. Fitzpatrick followed this up with the first home run of her collegiate career to give West Chester an 8-2 lead heading into the sixth.
After a scoreless top of the sixth, West Chester got the two runs it needed in the home half of the inning with a pinch-hit home run from
Lauryn Kane (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) and an RBI single by O'Neal to score
Mairead Hopkins (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) and lift West Chester to a 10-2 win in six innings.
Strechay earned the long-awaited first win of her collegiate career with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief with a pair of strikeouts in the game two victory.
Marissa Horn suffered the loss for Lock Haven, allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk, while Faith Persing and McKenzie Hannon allowed three runs and one run in 0.2 innings of relief, respectively.
Marabell and O'Neal both recorded three hits in the nightcap as Marabell was 3-for-4 with five RBI, while O'Neal was 3-for-4 with three RBI.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action on Tuesday against Millersville at home, beginning at 2 p.m.
