Box Score



Shepherd 8, Kutztown 7 (8 inn.) (HTML Box Score)
 
SALEM, Va. – The Kutztown University softball team concluded the three-day Salem Invitational at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex on Sunday morning and lost an 8-7 game to Shepherd University in eight innings.
 
Despite a season-high three home runs and 23 total bases for the Golden Bears, as well as a 6-2 lead, they couldn't close the game to defeat the pesky and resilient Rams.
 
The loss marks the third time in Salem the Golden Bears were defeated by one run in the opponent's final team at-bat, including two games in extra innings. Furthermore, Kutztown blew a lead in all three games, including both times in the eighth inning. KU blew a two-run, three-run and four-run lead in respective losses to No. 22 West Virginia Wesleyan, West Virginia State and Shepherd.
 
Kutztown (3-11) started the game with hard-hitting offense. Sophomore infielder Rachel Lawes (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin) hit her first career home run with a solo shot in the first inning. Fellow sophomore infielder Danielle Sienko (Philadelphia, Pa./William Penn Charter) added a solo homer in the second inning, which marked her second homer of the invitational. Those two bombs gave the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead midway through the second inning. However, Shepherd also provided a huge hit, as Rachel Kline launched a two-run blast in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 2-2.
 
The Golden Bears would get the lead back immediately as senior outfielder Morgan Booth (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) led off the third inning with her first home run of the season. With the third homer of the game, KU doubled its home run output for the season. Furthermore, the Maroon and Gold have five homers over the last two games after only hitting one through 12 games.
 
Kutztown added two more runs in the third inning, taking a 5-2 lead. Freshman third baseman Marka Ballard (Redwood City, CA/Mercy Burlingame) hit a ground-rule RBI double to right center, giving the California native her first extra-base hit as a Golden Bear. She has at least one hit in each of her 12 starts. The Golden Bears scored the third and final run of the inning on a Shepherd throwing error. The lead would eventually elevate to 6-2 midway through the fourth after an RBI single by senior outfielder Jackie Hetzler (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township). That hit marked the 175th of her career.
 
Unfortunately, the Golden Bears didn't score again in regulation, and Shepherd took advantage of some breaks to make the comeback. Shepherd led off the fourth with Savannah Snyder reaching on an error. Kline would send Snyder home two plays later with an RBI single. Shanan Plunkett followed with a hard hit to third base, which became a double when the ball took a long bounce off the diving glove of Ballard. Then, Elisa Orlandi scored Kline with an RBI groundout to second, cutting the score to 6-4 through four innings. The Rams totaled eight plays in which they advanced a runner during an out.
 
In the sixth inning, Snyder led off with a bloop single that fell in the small gap down the line between right field and first base. Snyder would get into second on a fielder's choice reach during a bang-bang play from Sienko. Then, a wild pitch by junior starter Dominique Ficara (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional (Hofstra)) set up runners at second and third with no outs. Shepherd would get a single and sacrifice fly to tie the game 6-6 through six.
 
Kutztown had a chance to grab the lead back in the seventh, getting runners at second and third with one out. However, a hard hit by freshman Savannah Nierintz (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) one-hopped directly into the glove of Shepherd pitcher Tara Hanson resulted in an out that couldn't advance any runners. Then, despite a team-high five two-out RBI and three multi-RBI games from Sienko, she grounded out to third base to end the inning.
 
In extra innings, the Golden Bears took advantage of the international rule by advancing the lead runner from second to home with a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly, grabbing a 7-6 lead. However, the Rams once again proved resilient and opportunistic. With runners at the corners and two outs, a hit by Orlandi seemed to hook foul down the leftfield line. However, the umpires ruled the hit fair, allowing Shepherd to score the game-tying RBI double. The following batter, Rubie Teffeteller, took full advantage of the break by hitting the walk-off RBI single over Hetzler's head in centerfield and walking the Rams off with the 8-7 triumph.
 
Kutztown has now lost half the amount of games it lost last year en route to an appearance in the Division II National Championship Game. However, the 2013 squad lost 13 of 15 games during one stretch before putting together a historic 12-game postseason winning streak as the PSAC East two seed and Atlantic Region six seed. The Golden Bears have 10 players from that resilient team.
 
The Golden Bears finished 0-5 in the Salem Invitational, after going 7-1 at James I. Moyer Sports Complex between regular season and postseason play last year. Overall, Kutztown was 32-3 in Salem from 2006 to 2013.
 
Next, the Maroon and Gold will play in the NTC College Spring Games in Clermont, FL. Kutztown will have a doubleheader against Molloy (NY) and Minot State (SD) this Tuesday morning, with coverage beginning at 9 a.m. on the Golden Bear Network.