PSAC Championship Central | Live Stats vs. Bloomsburg
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University softball team is slated to face the Bloomsburg Huskies tomorrow, May 3 at 3 p.m. in the first round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships in Quakertown, PA.
In the 2016 season, Bloomsburg (28-16, 16-4 PSAC) defeated California (PA) in the final round of the PSAC Championships and was crowned PSAC Champion.
Kutztown (30-13, 13-3 PSAC) and Bloomsburg both enter the playoffs with hot streaks, netting five wins in the final six games to close out the regular season.
This will be the first time all season that the two teams will be colliding. The last time the Golden Bears and the Huskies faced each other was the 2015 season, when they split four games between each other.
Kutztown currently boasts the best ERA in the conference at 1.81. Not far behind is Bloomsburg, which holds an ERA of 2.19.
The pitching has been largely due to the stellar play of
Savannah Nierintz (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby), who commands the second-best individual ERA in the PSAC at 1.23. She also leads the PSAC in strikeouts with 167.
A pitching duel may be in the works when these two teams meet, as Nierintz most likely will be squaring off against Mallory Tomaschik, who boasts the sixth-best ERA in the PSAC at 1.78.
On the offensive side, the Golden Bears will be led by
Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) (.419) and
Gabby Tareila (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford) (.394). Keeny leads the team in hits (62), runs scored (40) and on base percentage (.482). She is currently second in the PSAC in runs scored.
Tareila is second on the team in RBI (26) and also leads the team in doubles (14).
For the Huskies, the three-headed monster of Taylor Winkelman, Taylor Parker and Emily Mayhew will be the players to look out for. Winkelman leads the team in batting average (.409).
Winkelman is also the team's leader in runs scored (32) which is good for eighth in the PSAC while Parker is the team's leader in RBI (31), also tied for eighth in the conference.
As previously mentioned, expect a low scoring affair here, as two of the best pitchers in the PSAC will be clashing.
Kutztown enters the game as the No. 2 Seed in the East and shares the PSAC East title with West Chester University. The Huskies are No. 1 in the Central Division and holds sole possession of the PSAC Central title.
The PSAC Championships is a double-elimination tournament continuing through Saturday, May 6.
