WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Riding an eight-game winning streak, the West Chester University softball team (10-10, 2-2) hosted Millersville (15-7, 5-1) on Tuesday afternoon on the West Chester softball field. West Chester dropped game one by a 3-0 final before dropping a marathon nightcap by a 9-7 final in nine innings to fall back to .500 overall and in PSAC East play.
Game One: Millersville 3 WCU 0
WP: Delaney Troxell (10-3)
LP: Danielle Ciliberto (6-5)
Millersville capitalized on a pair of West Chester errors in the second and fourth to carry a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning.
The Marauders stretched their lead to 3-0 in the fifth with a solo shot by Lexi Pickett, which also closed the book on
Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon), who got the start and suffered her fifth (6-5) loss of the season.
Ciliberto allowed three runs (one earned) in four innings of work on six hits, while striking out one.
Alyssa Tooley (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) entered in relief and struck out six, while allowing two walks in three scoreless innings.
Troxell was difficult for West Chester to solve throughout game one on Tuesday as she improved to 10-3 on the year, scattering six hits and two walks, while striking out a pair and keeping the high-powered Golden Ram offense off the scoreboard.
Game Two: Millersville 9 WCU 7
WP: Troxell (11-3)
LP: Tooley (3-1)
Millersville got an early lead via an RBI single from Jaylee Lose in the first inning before
Tess Kearney (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) tied the game at 1-1 with her first home run of the season and the Golden Rams' 10
th of the year with two outs in the third inning.
Millersville did not allow the game to remain tied for long as Pickett led off the fourth with her second home run of the day to give the Marauders a 2-1 lead.
Paige Marabell (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) tied the game in the fourth with a solo home run of her own before Jocelyn Langer helped Millersville capitalize on an early Golden Ram error with a sac fly to take a 3-2 lead into the home half of the fifth.
West Chester started the fifth with back-to-back singles by
Lauryn Kane (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) and Kearney before
Kayla Fitzpatrick (Carle Place, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) battled her way to a bases-loaded walk. West Chester tied the game again when Marabell was hit by a pitch before
Ceara O'Neal (Hamilton, N.J./Steinert) gave West Chester its first lead of the game with a two-RBI double down the left field line as a line drive off the bat of O'Neal ricocheted off the glove of the Marauder third baseman.
Millersville answered back in the sixth with a two-RBI double of its own to tie the score at 5-5 and threatened for more with runners on second and third with one out. Millersville escaped the inning without any further damage to keep the score tied at 5-5.
West Chester started the home sixth with a baserunner as
Emma Zoldi (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) started the inning with a single before Troxell, who had entered in relief of Nicolina Pezzone in the fifth, worked out of the inning to keep the score tied, eventually forcing extra innings to decide a victor.
After both sides went down 1,2,3 in the eighth, Millersville started the ninth with a double, a fly ball to center, and a single to right to put runners on the corners with one out.
Maci Strechay (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley), who had started for West Chester and exited following the fifth in line for the win after West Chester had scored three in the fifth, returned in the ninth to try and work out of the jam Tooley had found herself in. Strechay got a big second out of the ninth by way of a strikeout before coming a pitch away from escaping the jam. Cecilia McBeth battled off a two-strike pitch and lined a single into left, which scored the go-ahead run and gave the Marauders a 6-5 lead. Pickett added her third home run of the day moments later, a three-run shot, which gave the visitors an important 9-5 lead heading into the home half of the ninth.
In the home ninth, West Chester got a one-out baserunner when Fitzpatrick singled to left center, which allowed the hosts to cut the deficit in half with a two-run home run off the bat of Marabell, cutting the Marauder lead to 9-7 with just one out in the home half of the ninth. Troxell settled back in after this two-run blast and got her last two outs to finish off a nearly three-hour 9-7 victory over the Golden Rams.
For Millersville, Pezzone worked a season-long 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on five hits, while walking a pair and striking out five. Troxell entered in relief and allowed two runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out three in 4.2 innings of work to earn her second win of the afternoon and 11
th of the season as she improved to 11-3.
Tooley suffered the loss in the nightcap, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out a pair to fall to 3-1 on the season. Strechay worked the first five innings for West Chester, allowing just three runs, and finished the game with a final line of 5.2 innings of work, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk, while striking out four.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action at home on Saturday against Shippensburg, beginning at 1 p.m.
