KUTZTOWN, Pa. – For the second consecutive season, the Kutztown University softball team won the outright Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division title, outlasting second place Shippensburg by one game. This week, KU is eyeing bigger things, looking to bring home the program's first PSAC championship since 2013 and the second ever in its history, when it travels to Quakertown for the PSAC Tournament, taking place May 4-7, at Veterans Park. The 10-team field will compete in a double-elimination tournament.
 
Kutztown is the No. 1 seed in the East and will play its first game against the winner of the West Division four seed, Gannon, or the fifth seed out of the East, East Stroudsburg, on Wednesday, May 4, at 3 p.m. The Tournament returns to the neutral site of Veterans Park for the first time since 2019. KU was in the PSAC semifinal round last season, falling to eventual champion West Chester in a best-of-three series at North Campus Field.
 
Tickets for each day are: Adults - $15 per day Day 1&2 | Day 3&4 - $10. Children under age 12 are free. Students from PSAC schools are free with valid ID.
 
The Golden Bears (33-13 overall, 12-4 PSAC) won the East and did it by taking down the defending champion Golden Rams (24-22, 7-9), while also knocking WCU out of postseason contention. KU won the opener 8-1 and then took the nightcap 4-1 last Saturday, April 30.
 
Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) leads the team with a .355 batting average, 36 runs scored (T-8th PSAC), 54 hits (6th PSAC), and 78 total bases. Inside the circle, Bridget Bailey (Norwood, Pa./Interboro) is 19-5, leading the PSAC in victories, and has a 1.91 ERA and 149 strikeouts, the latter ranks second in the conference. Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) is hitting .331 and ranks third in the PSAC with 41 RBIs. Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) is hitting .354 at the plate and ranks in the top-10 in the conference in slugging percentage (.646), on-base percentage (.475), OPS (1.121), home runs (9) and walks (25). Hannah Auvil (Baltimore, Md./Sparrows Point) is hitting .326 and has seven HRs, seventh-most in the league. Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) is third on KU with a .331 average and also ranks in the top-10 in the PSAC in runs (36) and doubles (11). Zoe Texidor (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) rounds out the KU lineup of batters hitting .300 or better.
 
Head coach Judy Lawes, in her 35th season in charge, has the team to win, with a mixture of youth and experience up-and-down the lineup and a couple of strong arms in the rotation.