LAKEWOOD, N.J. – Sophomore
Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) may not have had the start she wanted inside the circle in game one, but made up for it with her bat in a big way in game two, helping the Kutztown University softball team salvage a split at Georgian Court University in a non-conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon. The Lions won game one 10-2 in six innings and Harvey's tie-breaking home run in the nightcap led KU to a 7-6 victory.
The Golden Bears (24-10 overall) ended Georgian Court's (19-3) eight game win streak.
Harvey started game one in the circle, but gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs, suffering the defeat. But in game two, she stepped up to the plate, leading off the top of the seventh, and drove a pitch over the center field fence to break a 6-6 deadlock. Game two starter,
Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy), finished off the victory, her seventh on the year, and allowed just three earned runs in a complete-game win.
Harvey, along with
Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area), finished with three hits on the day, going 3-for-4 with three RBI in the nightcap to spark the lineup. Lipowski ranks third in the conference with a .541 on-base percentage and is fourth in RBI with 33.
Alyssa Donato (Cedarville, N.J./Cumberland Regional),
Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) and
Jenna Martinez (Oracle, Ariz./Canyon del Oro) all recorded two hits in the two games.
Kutztown will host its final regular season games this season when it hosts West Chester University this Friday, April 23, for two games. Game one is scheduled for 1 p.m., from North Campus Field.
Georgian Court 10, Kutztown 2 (6 innings)
Georgian Court scored in all but one inning, with multiple runners crossing home plate in four of the six innings. The Lions outhit Kutztown 12-5 and the Golden Bears did not help themselves out defensively, committing three errors.
Donato and Reimel had two of KU's five hits, both of which brought home its two runs of the game. Reimel doubled to center field in the top of the fourth inning scoring
Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland), and Donato singled in the sixth allowing
Mya Zettlemoyer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) to touch home plate.
Georgian Court scored one run in the first and two in the third to go ahead 3-0 after three. Following Reimel's RBI double, the Lions answered by doubling their total in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run home run by Jada Jones and a 6-1 advantage. They tacked on two more in the fifth and followed Donato's RBI single in the sixth with two more runs in the bottom-half of the sixth to end the game early in six innings.
Kutztown 7, Georgian Court 6
Lipowski was in the zone at the plate. Her two-run single in the top of the first inning got the scoring going for Kutztown. That was followed by a two-run long ball from Donato and KU went on top 4-0 before Georgian Court even came to the plate.
After the Lions got to within one run two different times (4-3 and 5-4), Lipowski delivered. She hit a solo homer to center in the third and then singled in the fifth on a play in which
Zoe Texidor (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) would come around on an error by the outfielder.
Georgian Court tied the game up at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth, but Harvey, who had two HRs in the previous two days, hit one on her third consecutive day. This one was important, proving to be the game-winner.
Brugger finished off the Lions in order in the seventh, one-two-three, to close the door.
