KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) and Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) connected on back-to-back longballs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a scoreless game and lead the Kutztown University softball team to a 2-0 win over Shepherd University Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Atlantic Region Tournament at North Campus Field.
 
The top-seeded Golden Bears (33-14 overall) staved off elimination and knocked out the second-seeded Rams (26-14) after falling in their previous game Thursday morning, 5-2, to fifth-seeded West Liberty University.
 
After a scoreless first four-and-a-half innings, Kutztown made something happen. With one out, Ostaszewski ripped the first pitch she saw from Shepherd starting pitcher, Cheyenne Van Pelt, over the right field fence to put KU on the board. It was the junior's second dinger in the last three games. Auvil, the very next batter, took a 1-0 pitch and hit it over the right center field fence as the Maroon and Gold went back-to-back and found themselves ahead 2-0. It was Auvil's seventh home run this season.
 
Ostaszewski and Auvil each had two hits and combined to score four of Kutztown's six hits. Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) and Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) had the other two hits.
 
Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy), who started in game one on the day, also took the ball in this game and went the distance. Brugger gave up just three hits for a shutout victory, her 13th on the year.
 
Kutztown will now take on fourth-seeded East Stroudsburg University on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m., on North Campus Field. Winner moves on to the day's final game at 3 p.m., against the loser of West Liberty-West Chester. The loser of KU-ESU is eliminated.