KUTZTOWN, Pa. (April 24, 2012)—The Kutztown University softball team earned the No.1 seed heading into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships and will face third-seeded Mercyhurst University at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION

LIVE STATS

The 2012 PSAC Softball Tournament will be held at the ASA of PA Jake Kislan Softball Complex in Drifton, Pa. Admission is $7 for adults, $2 for students and free for PSAC students with a valid school ID.

All eyes will be on KU (43-2, 15-1) as its recording-setting year continues into postseason. Kutztown is ranked fourth in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 Poll, which is the highest mark in program history. KU's 2012 season was also highlighted by a 33-game winning streak that was the longest stretch in school history.

Kutztown established its goals early in the season. It set out to win the PSAC East and it did just that. Now the Golden Bears are ready to conquer its next challenge to bring home the PSAC Championship title. Despite their accolades, the conference-leading Golden Bears just simply want to take it one game at a time.

Kutztown tops the PSAC in team batting (.334), team pitching (1.03 ERA), and team fielding (.975). It is led by senior Kelly Fitzgerald (Upper Darby, PA/Archbishop Prendergast) who is batting .421. She leads the team in hits (59), RBIs (38), runs (36), and doubles (15). KU's ace pitcher, Samantha Derr (Lititz, PA/Warwick) also swings a big bat and is hitting .384 this season. Brianna Knipe (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) (.357), along with Nicole Colineri (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) (.344), Katie Lynch (Willow Street, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) (.328), Morgan Booth (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) (.323), Jackie Hetzler (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) (.319), Kelly Strittmatter (Wyckoff, NJ/Indian Hills) (.316), and Heather Hannum (Horsham, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) (.310) have all produced in KU's lineup this season, displaying its depth. 

Mercyhurst (24-21, 7-7) and Kutztown faced each other earlier in the season, with KU sweeping MU by scores of 7-0 and 10-4. The Golden Bear's defense held the Lakers to just three hits in the shutout. In Game 2, Mercyhurst tallied 12 hits to KU's 13 but were not able to withstand Kutztown's offense.

The Lakers are led by Samantha Eimers who is batting .479, which is eighth in NCAA Division II Statistics and first in the PSAC. She also leads the conference in hits (70), runs (46), and total bases (116). Mercyhurst has seven other players batting over the .300 mark.

Derr picked up two wins last week to improve to 25-0 on the season. Her 25 wins are fourth on the KU single season pitching record. Her current ERA of 0.47 is the lowest in school history. She has only allowed 12 runs this season.

MU's ace pitcher Annie Truelove enters the PSAC championships with a 4.16 ERA.  She leads Mercyhurst in strikeouts (58).

The winner of the Kutztown and Mercyhurst game will face the winner of the Bloomsburg-Gannon game on Thursday, April 25 at 1 p.m. The loser between KU and MU will face the loser of the West Chester-Indiana (Pa.) game on Wednesday, April 25 at 4 p.m in an elimination game.