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KUTZTOWN, Pa. (May 4, 2012)—Freshman pitcher Mary Kociencki (Columbia, N.J./Sparta ) (Columbia, N.J./Sparta) allowed just two hits in route to top-seeded Kutztown's 1-0 win over No. 8 Winston-Salem State University in game 2 of the NCAA Softball Atlantic Regional tournament, Friday afternoon at North Campus Field.

The Golden Bears (46-4 overall) are currently ranked third in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 poll.

Kutztown will face No. 5 West Virginia State University on Saturday, May 5 at 10:30 a.m. WVSU shut out No. 4 Indiana (Pa.) 5-0, earlier on Friday in game 1. WSSU (32-18) and IUP will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the loser's bracket. The loser of that game will be eliminated from the tournament. The winner of that game will play the loser of the KU-WVSU game at 3:30 p.m.

Despite the low-scoring game, both teams had quite a few hard hit balls but it was Kutztown who capitalized early in the game.

Without any hesitation, sophomore Jackie Hetzler (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) (Turnersville, N.J./Washington Twp.) led off with a single in the first inning to get the game started.  Kelly Strittmatter (Wyckoff, NJ/Indian Hills) (Wyckoff, N.J./ Indian Hills) used a sacrifice bunt to move Hetzler to second.  Kelly Fitzgerald (Upper Darby, PA/Archbishop Prendergast) (Upper Darby, Pa./ Archbishop Pendergast) then singled to left field to score Hetzler to give Kutztown the 1-0 lead. However the Rams' defense wouldn't allow the Golden Bears to score anymore.

Both of WSSU's hits came from Brittany Rich. Rich doubled to right field in the fourth inning and singled in the sixth.

Brittany Lane finished with two strikeouts and recorded the loss for Winston-Salem. Her overall record is now 13-5.

Heather Hannum (Horsham, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) (Horsham, Pa./ Hatboro-Horsham) and Hetzler recorded two hits each.

Kociencki dominated in the circle for the Golden Bears. She finished with a game-high five strikeouts and improved to 13-1 on the season.

“I felt like this was a big accomplishment for us,” Kocienki said. “I knew every inning that I had to go in and pitch my hardest. For tomorrow's game I think we just need to stay focused and keep the mentality that we had today.”