West Chester Opens the NCAA Tournament Thursday Afternoon Against Kutztown

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EAST STROUDSBURG, PA. – West Chester University finished preparations for the 2026 NCAA Division II Softball Tournament and headed up to East Stroudsburg, Pa., for Thursday's first round contest against Kutztown University at 1:30 p.m.
 
Tickets to the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Creekview Park this weekend are $10 for adults and $5 for students (with school ID), children, adults 65 & over and military and first responders. All tickets are general admission, all-day passes and will be available at the gate. All sales are CASH ONLY.
 
The Golden Rams (30-25) earned the sixth seed in the Atlantic Region while Kutztown (35-20) earned the third seed. East Stroudsburg (36-19), the second seed in the Atlantic Region, was chosen to host Pod 2 and will take on seventh-seeded Fairmont State (37-13) on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Creekview Park right before the West Chester-Kutzotwn game.
 
Pod 1 is being hosted by the top seed in the Atlantic Region and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Champion, Shippensburg University (38-16), at Robb Sports Complex. The Raiders take on No. 8 seed Claflin University (31-12), who won the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Thursday at noon. Mountain East Conference (MEC) champion, Glenville State University (45-14), faces rival Charleston (W.Va.) University (45-16) in the other Pod 1 contest Thursday in a rematch of last week's MEC Championship Game won by Glenville State.
 
The softball team qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row and the 14th time under the tutelage of head coach Diane Lokey. West Chester won three of four to finish the regular season, including a Senior Day sweep of Bloomsburg, and advanced to the PSAC Semifinals, before falling to Indiana (Pa.) in its second elimination game of the PSAC Tournament after defeating California (Pa.), Kutztown and Seton Hill in Binghamton, N.Y., earlier in the week.

West Chester has won the Atlantic Regional crown four times in its first 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, but remains in search of its first crown since 2021 when the team advanced to the national finals.

How West Chester Got Here
West Chester played its way into the NCAA Tournament by going 6-3 in its final nine contests, including 3-2 in last weekend's PSAC Tournament and reaching the semifinals, A loss to IUP ended the Golden Rams' bid for a conference crown, and the squad had to wait until Monday morning's NCAA Tournament Selection Show to see if its 2026 campaign would continue.

Flock Talk           
Senior OF, Mairead Hopkins (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) tied, and then set, the school's career home run record with two blasts in the PSAC Tournament. The Golden Rams' leadoff hitter paces the squad with a .373 batting average, 10 home runs and 41 RBI. Senior 2B Kayla Fritzpatrick (Carle Place, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) is hitting .356 with 10 doubles and 31 RBI.

In the circle, Senior right-hander, Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) is 15-10 with a 2.93 ERA and a .325 batting average at the plate. Ciliberto will serve as the designated player when not in the circle for the Golden Rams and is a regular in head coach Diane Lokey's starting lineup. In the circle, the school's all-time strikeout queen has fanned 108 batters against just 19 walks in 170 innings of work, including nine complete games and two shutouts,
 
Senior Stalwarts Honored
Hopkins and Ciliberto were both named first team All-PSAC East honorees earlier this month, Both were recognized for the third time in their careers after strong 2026 regular-season performances.

The Field
West Chester is a combined 4-8 against Kutztown, East Stroudsburg and Fairmont State this season. Those are the three potential opponents the Golden Rams would face this weekend. West Chester went 1-3 against Kutztown in the regular season and then beat them in the PSAC Tournament last weekend. The Golden Rams split the season series with East Stroudsburg in the regular season, but dropped its PSAC Tournament tilt last weekend. Finally, Fairmont State took a pair of games from West Chester in Wilson, N.C. back in February on the first weekend of the spring season.

NCAA Tournament History
West Chester shows an overall record of 34-29 in the NCAA Tournament in 13 years. The Golden Rams are 0-6 against Kutztown in the NCAAs having last played KU in 2016. West Chester is 3-3 against East Stroudsburg in the NCAAs, including 2-1 in the AIAW Tournament in the 1970s. The Golden Rams and Warriors met in last year's NCAA Tournament with ESU taking a 2-1 decision.