EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Kutztown and East Stroudsburg softball teams traded 2-0 victories Tuesday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division doubleheader at Creekview Park.
 
The Golden Bears (15-17 overall, 9-7 PSAC East) answered a defeat in the opener by riding the arm of Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) and the bat of Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) in the nightcap. Harvey had a season-high seven strikeouts and earned her first shutout victory of the season, going a season-long seven innings. Geesey went 2-for-3 at the plate and accounted for both of KU's runs with two RBI singles in the top of the fourth and top of the sixth innings. The sophomore shortstop went 4-for-6 on the day.
 
The Warriors (24-12, 12-6) who also split with KU back on March 28, used the bat of Jada Smallwood, who hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning of game one. That was all Paige Zigmund needed inside the circle as she went the distance for the shutout win.
 
Kutztown will remain on the road for its fourth straight doubleheader and will play at Bloomsburg tomorrow, Wednesday, April 12, in a makeup of a previously scheduled doubleheader from March 31. Game one is set to begin at 2 p.m.
 
East Stroudsburg 2, Kutztown 0
 
In a quick and efficient game that took just 1:14, Kutztown was the more threatening team at the plate, outhitting East Stroudsburg 7-4. But ESU was the more efficient one, scoring the two runs on a two-run home run by Smallwood, who is tied for fifth in the PSAC with six long balls this season. KU had its chances, but it left eight runners stranded throughout the course of the contest.
 
Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) led off the game with a double after seeing her 11th pitch of the at-bat. But she remained at second base as Warriors starting pitcher, Zigmund, sat down the next three KU batters.
 
Zigmund threw a complete-game shutout, recording her 13th victory on the year, second-best in the PSAC. She also ranks fourth with a 2.02 earned run average.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) was not too shabby herself, going six innings, allowing just four hits and struck out six batters. Her 2.34 ERA ranks inside the top-10 in the conference.
 
The Golden Bears had at least one runner in scoring position in both the second and third innings, both came with two outs, however. Kutztown brought the go-ahead run to the plate with just one out in the seventh after a leadoff single by Geesey and a single to right center from Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) two batters later, but Zigmund shut the door and recorded two straight outs with runners on first and second.
 
Kutztown 2, East Stroudsburg 0
 
It looked like more of the same for the Kutztown lineup as it had two runners on with one in scoring position and one out in the top of the first inning, but could not bring them home, with the next two batters getting out.
 
After a scoreless first three innings, however, KU finally broke through on the scoreboard thanks to Geesey's cluth, two-out single that brought home Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), who led off with a single. The same duo was at it again in the sixth as Ostaszewski worked a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Harvey's single, and then touched home on Geesey's single up the middle.
 
Harvey had to get out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom-half of the inning, but got a groundout to end the threat. East Stroudsburg brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh with one out, but Harvey recorded the next two batters out to finish off the game.

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