CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Kutztown softball fell one win shy of playing for a regional championship as a second straight late lead slipped. No. 19 Charleston mounted a comeback with a five-run, fifth inning to protect home field and down Kutztown 6-3 Friday evening in an NCAA Atlantic Region tournament game at Charleston.
 
Just like in the first game of the day, the Golden Bears (30-26 overall) led for a majority of the game until late. The Golden Eagles (42-10) were trailing 3-1 heading to the fifth inning and then brought in five runs and then rode the pitching of Brianna McCown, who threw the final four innings of shutout ball, giving up just one hit. She took the loss against KU on Thursday afternoon, 2-0.
 
Six Golden Bears each finished with a hit as Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township), Kate Ostaszewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), Sarah Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union), Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown), Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) and Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) ended the season with a hit.
 
Charleston opened the game with a run in the top of the second inning and then Kutztown answered with a three-run, bottom of the third, highlighted by a Gravish RBI double to left field and a two-run single to left by Ostaszewski.
 
That would be all the scoring for KU, however. The Golden Eagles got to Gravish inside the circle in the fifth, something that rarely happened in 2023. Harvey started and threw four innings, giving up just a run and three hits, but Charleston, having seen the sophomore Gravish the day before, had a familiarity with her stuff and took advantage of it. There were four hits and two walks in the inning that allowed the Golden Eagles to jump out in front for the first time in the two meetings on back-to-back days between the teams.
 
Kutztown had just one base runner the final three innings.
 
KU will graduate Harvey, Ostaszewski and Jenna Martinez (Oracle, Ariz./Canyon del Oro), but will bring back a majority of the starting lineup, including Gravish and Stocklin, who were All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Second Teamers this season. KU reached the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year and have been one of, if not the top, program in the PSAC over that time.

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