KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Top-seeded and 20th-ranked Kutztown University channeled season-long grit and determination, battling to the final out in game two of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Super Regional at North Campus Field Saturday morning. In the end, second-seeded Seton Hill held off the Golden Bears' seventh-inning rally for a 9-5 win and 2-0 series sweep.
The Griffins, who served as the defacto home team in game two after winning the opener, 7-0, Thursday, built a 4-0 lead in the first inning and still maintained a 4-3 edge heading into the bottom of the third when play was suspended Friday afternoon due to torrential rain and storms.
Morgan Ryan drove in lead-off hitter Nichole McClendon to start the scoring, before Brooklyn Fukushima and Grace Paredes connected for back-to-back two-out RBI doubles for a 3-0 Seton Hill lead in the bottom of the first. Kutztown's (40-15) second defensive miscue of the inning allowed a fourth run to score and chased starting pitcher
Amber Brugger (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy) from the game.
KU started its climb back in the second.
Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) started the inning with a double and later scored on
Sarah Harvey's (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) sacrifice fly. The Golden Bears pulled even closer in the third, collecting a pair of runs on five hits to cut Seton Hill's (41-10) lead to 4-3.
Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) doubled in
Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township), forcing the Griffins to pull their starting pitcher, Chloe Elliott, and
Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) plated Auvil with a single to center, a run that was also charged to Elliott.
Before the Griffins could come to bat in the third, the skies opened and play could not be resumed Friday.
Harvey was back in the circle Saturday morning when the game restarted and quickly got through the middle of SHU's order with a two-out single causing no harm.
Seton Hill coach Jessica Strong turned to Ryan, the D2CCA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year, in the fourth. The move paid off, as Ryan, a Notre Dame transfer that started game two at designated player, struck out the side in the fourth before tossing scoreless fifth and sixth innings.
The Griffins took advantage with their ace back, scoring five times between the fifth and sixth innings to take control, 9-3. Grace Paredes delivered a two-run double in the fifth and Morgan Toal had the big blow in the sixth with a two-run single to right field.
Ryan, who blanked the Bears in game one, quickly put her team within an out of a trip to the NCAA DII Championship in the seventh retiring the first two Kutztown batters, but there was still a bit of drama to navigate.
Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) was hit by a pitch and Lipowski hammered an 0-2 pitch from Ryan over the left field fence to make it 9-5. The home run was the 35th of Lipowski's career, breaking a tie with Nicole Henninger for fourth on KU's all-time list and her 183rd run batted in, also fourth most in program history.
Kutztown also got two-out singles from Hughes and
Alyssa Donato (Cedarville, N.J./Cumberland Regional), but Ryan finally induced a ground out with the tying run on deck to clinch Seton Hill's first Atlantic Region title and send the Griffins to Denver, Colo.
Both teams registered double-figure hits in the game, with KU racking up 11 and Seton Hill 10.
Stocklin, Lipowski, Hughes and Donato each finished 2-for-4. Paredes totaled a game-high three hits (3-for-4), doubled twice and drove in three for the victors. Toal and Fukushima had a piar of hits for the Griffins.
Ryan earned the win, her 18th of the season (18-2), by striking out four and allowing two runs on five hits over four innings. Brugger suffered the defeat with four runs allowed (one earned) on four hits in two-thirds of an inning Friday. Harvey yielded five runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. She struck out two.
Kutztown reached the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in program history --first since finishing as the national runner-up in 2013-- and registered its seventh 40-win season, all of which have come under current head coach
Judy Lawes.
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