SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va. – Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) needed just one hit. One hit at history.
But stepping into the batter's box in the seventh inning of the second game of an important twin bill, Keeny needed that hit, not only for her personal record book, but for her team's sake.
And she delivered.
 
The senior from Warrington ripped a triple to right center field that scored two runs while KU was trailing 1-0 and in search of an important Atlantic Regional win. The hit proved to be pivotal as it gave the Kutztown University softball team a 2-1 victory in game two to salvage a split at 20th-ranked Shepherd University Tuesday in a matchup of two of the top-six teams in the NCAA Atlantic Region.
 
Keeny was four hits shy coming into the day and got more than half of it in the pivotal game two as the Golden Bears (32-17 overall) broke free in the seventh inning.
 
After being shutout in game one with just five hits, Kutztown was looking like it would be held without a run the whole day. Not because the offense wasn't hitting (it had 14 hits through the two games), but because hitting with runners in scoring position came at a premium against the Rams (34-12).
 
In a pitchers dual in the nightcap, freshman Bridget Bailey (Norwood, Pa./Interboro) came out on top. Her matchup with Shepherd pitcher Taylor Stocks proved to be one to watch.
 
Bailey went the distance and gave up just four hits and one run, unearned. She earned her Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)-leading 15th win of the season.
 
The lone Rams run came first, in the bottom of the sixth, as an error allowed a runner to score from third.
 
Down to their final outs and in need of a spark, the senior leader and hits leader Keeny stepped up to the plate. Classmate Cheyenne Jones (Levittown, Pa./Harry S Truman (Northwest Florida State)) singled and then was pinch-run for by Dani Nordyk (Orange, Conn./Amity). Two batters later, Alyssa Oakley (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) followed suit with a base hit to put runners at first and second with one out. Keeny then delivered a two-run triple to right center that brought both runners home. It was her seventh three-bagger of the year, first in the conference and second all-time in KU history for triples in a season.
 
Bailey then sat down Shepherd in order one-two-three in the seventh to pick up the victory.
 
Freshman pitcher Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy) kept her team in the game all game, throwing six innings, allowing eight hits and just one earned run in the opener. But the Maroon and Gold only really threatened in two innings.
 
In the top of the first, with runners on second and third with nobody out, Shepherd was able to get out of not only that jam, but a second and third with one out pickle as well.
 
Kutztown did not get a runner past first base again until the seventh when it had base runners at first and second and one out, but a game-ending double-play sealed the deal.
 
Katelyn Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) finished with three hits, and Jones, Oakley and Tamara Jennings (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) all added two hits on the day.
 
Kutztown finishes off the regular season on the road this Saturday, April 27, with PSAC games at East Stroudsburg. Game one begins at 1 p.m. KU looks to clinch a PSAC Tournament berth.