KUTZTOWN, Pa. – It was a matchup of the top two softball teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division based off win percentage, and the doubleheader lived up to expectations. Kutztown University won game one 3-1 and then East Stroudsburg University answered in game two, winning 6-3, Saturday afternoon in front of a large crowd at North Campus Field.
 
The Golden Bears (17-9 overall, 1-1 PSAC) and Warriors (22-2, 1-1) know each other well. Since last April, the two teams have played each other seven times, including twice in the PSAC Quarterfinals best-of-three and once at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals last season. KU went 4-3 against ESU, and now stand at 5-4 over the last nine games overall.
 
Alyssa Donato (Cedarville, N.J./Cumberland Regional) paced the Kutztown offense going 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland), Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township), Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) and Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) all finished with two hits on the day. Hughes and Ostaszewski each had two RBIs.
 
Bridget Bailey (Norwood, Pa./Interboro) won her PSAC-leading ninth game, starting the opener. Bailey threw a complete game and allowed just one earned run and struck out three.
 
The Golden Bears take on Bloomfield in a non-conference doubleheader Monday, April 4, beginning at 2 p.m., at North Campus Field.
 
Kutztown 3, East Stroudsburg 1
 
Ostaszewski got things going offensively for the Maroon and Gold with a two-out, solo home run the opposite way to left field. The senior, who is tied with the freshman Stocklin for the team-lead with 30 hits, is tied for eighth in the conference in base-hits.
 
Both Bailey and Warriors starter, Katie Zaun, were on top of their games and threw shutout innings each of the next four innings after Ostaszewski's long ball. But then the sixth inning turned the tides for both squads.
 
East Stroudsburg tied the game at 1-1 in the top-half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Denva Shaw-Tait. In the bottom of the sixth, Ostaszewski and Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) followed suit, each recording sacrifice flies that scored Zoe Texidor (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) and Stocklin, respectively, to put KU back on top 3-1. Lipowski ranks fifth in the PSAC with 25 RBIs.
 
Bailey shut the doors down in the seventh, retiring ESU one-two-three to earn the victory.
 
East Stroudsburg 6, Kutztown 3
 
Having fallen in game one for just the second time in its first 23 games this season, East Stroudsburg did its best to avoid a sweep at the hands of Kutztown.
 
The Warriors did themselves the favor of jumping on top early, scoring six runs in the first two innings and went up 6-0.
 
The Golden Bears cut their deficit in half in the bottom of the second thanks to two long home runs off the bats of Hughes and Donato, the former's being a two-run drive. Hughes leads KU with seven HRs this season, ranking second in the conference.
 
East Stroudsburg head coach Jaime Wohlbach pulled her starter after one inning and inserted Leigh Ann Jenkins, who threw six shutout innings, allowing just five KU hits to record the win. She leads the PSAC with a 1.03 earned run average.

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