MYRTLE BEACH –
Cheyenne Jones (Levittown, Pa./Harry S Truman (Northwest Florida State))' sole home run in the top of the second turned out to be the game-winner as
Savannah Nierintz (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) threw her third complete game of the weekend to help the Kutztown University softball team finish the Snowbird Freeze Out Tournament 4-1 with a slim 2-1 victory over West Virginia State on Sunday morning. The Golden Bears (7-3) improve to 6-1 in their last seven games.
In a game where scoring was hard to come by, all three runs of the morning were scored in the first three half-innings. Batting in the top of the first, KU got on the board thanks to
Jacqueline Walsh (Downingtown, Pa./Coatesville) sending a 0-2 pitch to left field for an RBI single with the bases loaded.
Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent), who had led the game off with a walk and stole second, came in to score on the base hit.
West Virginia State responded with a two-out, solo homer by Brookelyn Hale in the bottom of the first. The bases were empty thanks to
Gabby Tareila (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford) throwing out a runner attempting to steal second during the at-bat.
Kutztown wasted little time in regaining the lead as Jones came up with one out in the top of the second, and after fouling off three straight pitches, sent the next one over the center field fence for her first career home run with the Maroon and Gold.
KU loaded the bases for the second straight inning after the homer, and did so again in the top of the third, but was unable to push another run across. In total, the Golden Bears left 13 runners on base.
Nierintz made sure this did not affect the outcome of the game as she bore down following the first inning home run to throw a scoreless 6.1 innings.
The only two threats she faced came in the fourth after a leadoff double in which she went on to strikeout the side and in the bottom of the seventh. A two-out single advanced the tying run to second base, but Nierintz got the next batter to fly out to left field.
Nierintz finished Sunday with nine strikeouts, two shy of her career-high, and did not walk a hitter. She worked around giving up nine hits.
The performance capped a weekend in which Nierintz allowed just one earned run in 20.2 innings. She struck out 16 batters against just two walks and two hit by pitches to improve to 4-1 on the year with a 0.79 ERA.
Tareila and Walsh each recorded two hits for Kutztown in the weekend-finale, with Tareila also drawing a base on balls. Keeney finished 1-2 with two walks and the run scored, while Jones also drew a walk in addition to her home run.
West Virginia State's Amanda McDonald and Allyson Burgess came on in relief to hold KU to just four hits in the final 5.2 innings.
Kutztown takes a break for nearly three weeks before retuning to action at the NTC College Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. on March 11 at 6 p.m. against Saint Anselm. It will be the first of 11 games across seven days in the Sunshine State.
