KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University softball team was tested this weekend by its top two competitors for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division crown. After splitting with second-place West Chester Friday, Kutztown remained in first place with a split against third-place Shippensburg University on Saturday at North Campus Field. Shippensburg won game one 2-1, and KU bounced back for a 4-2 win in game two.
 
The Golden Bears (25-10, 8-2 PSAC) locked up the season-series win with the split Saturday, having taken two from the Raiders (22-17, 5-5) earlier this year on the road.
 
Blayse Cholish (Peckville, Pa./Valley View) had two of KU's three hits in the opener, as Shippensburg's Taryn Wilson was sharp in the circle. Cholish's RBI double in the fifth was one of the few balls to get out of the infield against Wilson, who finished with five strikeouts and two walks.
 
Kutztown's two runs allowed were both unearned, as a throwing error on a Shippensburg bunt attempt allowed two runs to score in the third inning. KU cut the deficit to one in the fifth, but was unable to knot the score from then on.
 
Savannah Nierintz (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) suffered her second-straight hard-luck loss – not allowing an earned run in a loss for the second-straight day. She allowed five hits in game one with six strikeouts and one walk.
 
Kutztown's bats came alive in game two for the second-straight day. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, KU scored four runs in the second in its 4-2 victory.
 
Nieinrtz made her mark in the top of the second, entering in relief with the bases loaded and no outs. She forced a groundball, a strikeout and a pop-up to end the threat and keep KU in the ballgame.
 
Offensively, Bridget Newman (Ardmore, Pa./Haverford) opened the scoring with an RBI double to score Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) with one out. Kutztown's following three runs would all be scored with two outs. Asja Saito (Pickering, Ontario/Pickering) highlighted a 2-for-3 nightcap with an RBI single and went on to score with Cholish on an RBI single from Keeny for a 4-2 lead.
 
Nierintz allowed a runner to reach second base just twice in the final five innings, picking up her 17th win of the season.
 
The Golden Bears return to action on Friday, April 21, with a road game at East Stroudsburg University beginning at 2:30 p.m.