KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University softball pitchers Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) and Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy) shined bright on an overcast day Saturday. The pitching duo bounced back from rough outings Friday to help KU to two wins over visiting East Stroudsburg University, 6-4 and 3-0, in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division action at North Campus Field.
 
The Golden Bears (23-9 overall, 18-8 PSAC) were desperate for some conference wins after losing their last five, including two at the Warriors (21-11, 12-10) by scores of 7-4 and 7-0.
 
In those games Friday, Harvey started game one and Brugger started game two. It was the same lineup inside the circle Saturday, but different results. Harvey allowed four earned runs, three of which came in East Stroudsburg's last at-bats, but made the pitches when she needed to get out of a bases loaded jam with the go-ahead runner at first base, to earn her seventh victory this season. Brugger gave up just four hits and walked none, while striking out six, in completing a shutout, her first complete-game shutout of the year. Brugger won her sixth game this season.
 
Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) finished with three hits on the day, including a two-run, homerun in the bottom of the first inning of the opener. Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) had two hits in game one, also adding a long ball, a three-run HR. Auvil is tied for third in the conference with 45 hits this season. Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) tallied two hits in the two games as well, and scored two runs. She ranks second in the PSAC with 34 runs.
 
Kutztown plays at Georgian Court in a non-conference doubleheader tomorrow, Sunday, April 18, beginning at 2 p.m.
 
Kutztown 6, East Stroudsburg 4
 
Lipowski got the scoring going in Kutztown's first at-bats with a two-run drive to left field. After East Stroudsburg got a run back in the second, Harvey helped herself out by hitting a solo shot, her second in as many days, as KU went up 3-1. Auvil then doubled her team's lead with a three-run homerun to left in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Harvey faced little trouble all day. She allowed a run in the first on a double and a single, but that was all the Warriors would get until the seventh inning. ESU brought nine batters to the plate and scored three runs, loading the bases with one out. But Harvey got two outs to escape any further damage and record the win.
 
Kutztown 3, East Stroudsburg 0
 
The story was about Brugger. The junior right hander gave up four hits scattered throughout the seven innings. She sat down East Stroudsburg in order the first three innings. In the bottom of the second inning, she doubled down the left field line that brought home Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) for the opening run of the game.
 
Her partner inside the circle, Harvey, helped out the cause, ripping an RBI single to center in the fifth, after a Lipowski run-scoring single in the third.
 
Brugger went the distance on just 70 pitches.