HTML Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2 KUTZTOWN, Pa. – It was clear that the two best pitching staffs in the conference were on display on Sunday at North Campus Field. Both teams entered with sub-2 ERAs, and scoring proved to be at a premium. Bloomsburg University won the opening softball game 2-0, but the Kutztown University softball team responded with a 3-0 victory in the nightcap.
Sunday was by-far the nicest day of the year for the Golden Bears at their North Campus Field. Kutztown (22-9, 10-5 PSAC East) and Bloomsburg (12-8, 7-3) are off to two of the top starts in the Eastern Division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and each had pitchers throw complete game shutouts in the doubleheader.
After Kutztown dropped game one, freshman
Danielle Amato and sophomore
Savannah Nierintz led the Golden Bears in their 3-0 win in the nightcap. Nierintz threw the complete game shutout in her 15th win of the season. She allowed four hits and had two strikeouts on 98 total pitches.
Amato drove in two runs, including the game-winner. In the third inning,
Blayse Cholish led off with a double, was sacrificed to third by
Asja Saito, and was driven in with one out by an Amato single to center field for a 1-0 KU lead.
Kutztown scored its final two runs in the fifth inning. With two runners on base, Amato stepped up and drove the second pitch she saw to right-center field for an RBI single to score Cholish once again.
Danielle Sienko legged out an infield single that went off the pitchers glove with two outs to keep the inning alive and score the runner from third.
In Kutztown's four games this weekend, Amato batted .636 on 7-for-11 at the plate with a team-high six RBI and 11 total bases. She leads the Golden Bears in batting average this year at .425.
Sienko went 3-for-3 and Cholish went 2-for-4 at the plate in the nightcap. Along with Amato's two hits, the trio combined for all seven of Kutztown's hitters in game two.
Bloomsburg pitcher Taylor Parker limited KU to three hits in the opener. She got ahead of hitters early and did not need many pitches to work her way through innings. KU's Saito and
Colleen Smith belted long fly balls to the left field warning track in the fourth inning, but neither were deep enough to go over the fence.
The Huskies took the lead in the third inning with a double, advancement on a wild pitch, and a RBI single to right field. In the seventh inning, it took advantage of a mental mistake on the KU right fielder to stretch their lead to 2-0. With two outs and no runners on base, Bloomsburg catcher Anna McElroy sent a fly ball that tailed toward the right field line. The KU fielder dove for the ball, but was unable to make the play that gave McElroy a triple. A single the next batter scored the runner from third.
Kutztown put the tying run on base in the seventh, but a pop-up and a groundball ended the game.
KU pitcher
Dominique Ficara tossed a complete game in the loss and allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts.
The Golden Bears have a busy week ahead of them, with doubleheaders scheduled on five of the next six days. Next up is a road trip to Mansfield on Monday, April 13 at 2:30 p.m.
