LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Kutztown University softball team won a pair of important Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Divisional games on the road at Lock Haven University on Monday afternoon in a doubleheader that was previously scheduled for last Friday. KU won game one 5-0 and took the second game 7-3 in the first PSAC road games of the season.
 
The Golden Bears (22-10 overall, 3-1 PSAC) moved up five spots in the East standings and sit in second place, behind Millersville (14-14, 2-0), who has played two less games. KU has now won seven games in-a-row over the Bald Eagles (11-12, 2-4).
 
Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) finished with five hits in eight at-bats and added three RBIs and scored two runs. She hit her seventh home run of the year in game two, which is tied for fifth-best in the PSAC. Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) recorded four hits in seven at-bats with two RBIs and two runs. Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) and Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) both had three hits on the day and each of Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township), Alyssa Donato (Cedarville, N.J./Cumberland Regional) and Zoe Texidor (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) had two hits.
 
Bridget Bailey (Norwood, Pa./Interboro) won her PSAC-leading 12th game of the year, going the distance and recording the shutout in the opener. She then came on in relief of Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy), who earned the game two win, to finish off the last two frames.
 
Kutztown will be competing for the third time in as many days, all on the road, as it travels to Chestnut Hill for a non-conference doubleheader tomorrow, Tuesday, April 12, beginning at 2 p.m.
 
Kutztown 5, Lock Haven 0
 
Kutztown used two innings to score all five of its runs as Bailey was on top of her game inside the circle. The senior gave up just five hits and struck out nine in the shutout.
 
The first three batters in the lineup reached base safely in the top of the first as Stocklin led off with a walk and then advanced to second on a single by Auvil. After the duo stole third and second, respectively, Ostaszewski brought them both home with a double to right center field. The senior then touched home plate herself three batters later thanks to a sacrifice fly by Donato as KU took a 3-0 lead before Lock Haven even came up to bat.
 
Bald Eagles starting pitcher Madison Waltman settled down as both she and Bailey threw scoreless innings over the next three.
 
The Golden Bears tacked on two more runs in the top of the fifth as Stocklin and Auvil connected on back-to-back RBI doubles after a one-out single by Texidor to cap the scoring for the game.
 
Kutztown 7, Lock Haven 3
 
This was more of an offensive game as the two teams combined for 26 hits, KU finishing with 16 to Lock Haven's 10.
 
Ostaszewski, Reimel and Geesey all tallied three hits. Reimel also contributed two RBIs and scored two runs, while Geesey added an RBI a run scored.
 
Kutztown scored a run in each of the first three innings before Lock Haven go onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Ostaszewski came home on a wild pitch in the first, Reimel singled to center field scoring Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) in the second and then Auvil connected for KU's lone long ball of the day with a solo shot in the third.
 
Following a Bald Eagles run in the bottom-half of the third, Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) chipped in to the cause with an RBI single to center to push KU's lead back to three at 4-1, an advantage that would hold until the bottom of the fifth.
 
Lock Haven pulled to within just one run, scoring twice in the fifth on a sacrifice fly and a KU defensive error to put the score at 4-3 in favor of the Maroon and Gold. But that would be all that the Bald Eagles would be able to muster up the rest of the game thanks to Brugger and Bailey.
 
Auvil continued her tear on Lock Haven pitching on the day with a run-scoring single in the sixth. And then in the seventh, Reimel doubled in pinch runner Aysha Gibbs (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal) and Geesey brought Reimel around with an RBI single to add some much needed insurance runs and a 7-3 lead.

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