BENSALEM, Pa. – After nearly a two-week break from competition, the Kutztown softball team kept its strong start to the 2024 regular season going, winning two games at Holy Family Friday afternoon at Bensalem High School. KU won the opener 8-0 and took game two 8-2.
 
The Golden Bears (8-2 overall) recorded their third shutout of the season in game one. The lineup had double digit hits in both games and finished with 21 total. Late innings proved pivotal in the game as neither team scored until at least the fifth inning of either game.
 
In the two games, Makenna Balay (Drums, Pa./Hazleton Area) paced the lineup with four hits. Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) and Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) both finished with three hits and combined for five RBIs with Reimel recording three and Stevens two. Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township), Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township), Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) and Jenna Piatkiewicz (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland) all had two hits on the day.
 
Natalee Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) and Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) started game one and two, respectively, inside the circle, and each picked up the win for their teams, both earning their fourth victories of the season and both striking out six Tigers.
 
Kutztown next makes its yearly stop in Wilson, N.C., to play Barton for two games next Thursday, March 7, before heading to Fla., to begin its spring break trip. KU will play eight games in four days, spanning from Monday, March 11, through Thursday, March 14.
 
Kutztown 8, Holy Family 0
 
It took a couple of innings for the Kutztown bats to get going as KU scored all eight runs in the last three innings, including a five-run seventh.
 
After four scoreless innings between the two teams, the Maroon and Gold were finally able to get things going in the top of the fifth. Reimel led off with a single the opposite way down the right field line. Pinch runner Piatkiewicz came around for the game's first run three batters later on an RBI single by Stevens. Leanna Schenk (Roslyn, Pa./Abington), pinch running for Balay, who singled following Stevens, touched home on a wild pitch to push the lead to 2-0 after five.
 
Sarah Harvat (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) recorded an RBI on a one-out single down the third base line to bring home Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) for a 3-0 advantage.
 
In the seventh, KU broke the game open as it nearly hit around, bringing eight batters to the plate. The big hits came from Stocklin, who had an RBI double, Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township), who recorded a run-scoring single and Reimel's two-out, three-run home run over the left field fence to cap the scoring output.
 
Kutztown finished with a 10-3 advantage in hits.
 
Harvey was dialed in from the opening batter and threw the complete game shutout, allowing just three hits, while striking out six Tigers batters. It was her fourth victory of the season inside the circle and third shutout.
 
Kutztown 8, Holy Family 2
 
Just like in the opener, the teams were held scoreless by the other respective starting pitcher through the first four innings. But in the top of the fifth, Kutztown stormed ahead, scoring six runs, highlighted by an RBI double by Stevens, run-scoring single from Darnowski and a two-run home run by Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley).
 
Holy Family got on the scoreboard for the first time on the day with two runs in the bottom-half of the fifth. But the Golden Bears answered with a run in the sixth thanks to a defensive error and one more in the seventh via a Harvat sacrifice fly.

Gravish threw all seven innings, giving up six hits and striking out six. Read Full Article