CLERMONT, Flor. – After dropping a 6-2 opener to Cedarville University with just six hits, the Kutztown University softball team responded with 15 hits in a 6-4 victory over Assumption College to split its doubleheader on Tuesday.
 
The Golden Bears (9-7) led 2-0 in game one against Cedarville (2-5). Danielle Sienko (Philadelphia, Pa./William Penn Charter) and Rachel Lawes (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin) drove in runs in the second inning, but Cedarville answered with a an RBI single in the second and a two-run homer in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead.
 
Kutztown left runners in scoring position in the top of the fifth and sixth innings, leaving the door open for Cedarville to pull away. CU scored three runs in the sixth, two with two outs, to earn the 6-2 win.
 
No time was wasted in game two against Assumption getting the bats hot. KU scored three runs in the first two innings and held its lead throughout the game. Danielle Amato (Henderson, Nev./Coronado) and Gabby Tareila (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford) drove in first-inning runs, as did Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) in the second.
 
Keeny, Kutztown's freshman leadoff hitter, led the team with a 4-for-5 performance and two runs scored in the nightcap. She is batting .526 this year.
 
Blayse Cholish (Peckville, Pa./Valley View) gave KU a 4-0 lead in the fourth, but the bottom-half of the fourth was not as kind to the Golden Bears. Assumption put runners on second and third with no outs. Following a pitching change, two wild pitches scored Assumption's first two runs of the game, as an RBI double with two outs brought it to 4-3 through four.
 
An inning-opening error by Assumption in the sixth led to two insurance runs for Kutztown. Keeny reached off an error on the shortstop to start the inning, and came around to score off Cholish's third hit and second RBI of the game. Amato scored Cholish the next at-bat for a 6-3 Kutztown lead. An eventual pop-up to shortstop with the bases loaded ended the inning for KU.
 
KU allowed back-to-back doubles to start the bottom half of the sixth, bringing Savannah Nierintz (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) into the game as a closer. She retired all six batters she faced in the final two innings to secure the 6-4 win for Kutztown.
 
Jackie Morell (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) moved to 2-0 and pitched the opening three innings. Nierintz earned the save with her two perfect innings of relief.
 
Kutztown wraps up play in Flor. on Wednesday, March 9, before traveling to Va. for the Salem Invitational this weekend.