PSAC Championship Central
 
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University softball team's magical three-day run in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) softball championships came to an end Friday afternoon after falling in its second game in-a-row, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of defending PSAC champion Gannon University at Veterans Park in Quakertown.
 
The Golden Bears sit at 36-20 overall and are in a prime position to now receive an at-large selection into the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament. The selection show is set for Monday, May 6, at 10 a.m.
 
Kutztown was voted seventh in the last poll, with the top-eight teams making the field. With three wins in the PSAC Tournament, two coming against regionally-ranked opponents West Chester (2) and Bloomsburg (8), and finishing as one of the last three teams at the PSAC Championships, KU certainly strengthened its resume.
 
In the three wins to open up play, the Maroon and Gold amassed 32 runs and 39 hits, but Friday just wasn't their day. After a 2-1 setback to Lock Haven in the opener, where KU had five hits, the offense could not increase that number as it totaled five hits in the 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights (29-13).
 
Gannon would score a run in each of the second, fourth and fifth innings, two of which came via solo home runs.
 
KU had a couple of hard hit balls, but none found grass or anything but a Golden Knights glove.
 
In the top of the sixth, Kutztown inched closer as freshman Dani Nordyk (Orange, Conn./Amity) doubled to right center to bring around Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) to make the score 3-1. But that was the final batter to reach as KU went one-two-three in the seventh.
 
Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) enjoyed a three-hit game, going 3-for-3. She now has 100 hits this season, the most by a KU player in a single season. Nordyk and Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) both had a hit.