KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown softball connected for three home runs by three different student-athletes to spark a game two victory over Shepherd Tuesday afternoon at North Campus Field and a split of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division doubleheader.
 
The Golden Bears (21-14 overall, 9-7 PSAC) defeated the Rams (18-18, 8-10) 8-0 in five innings in that second game after dropping the opener 10-5.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) hit the game clinching long ball, a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning that extended a 4-0 lead to 8-0 and the mercy rule victory. The junior also started game two inside the circle and threw five shutout innings, allowing just one hit to earn victory number 11 on the season.
 
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) and Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) also hit HRs in the second game, while Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono), who went 4-for-5 on the day, hit two home runs in the first game and added five RBIs. Henn had four hits, Geesey and Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) both had two.
 
Kutztown is right back in action tomorrow, Wednesday, April 10, for two games at Millersville. These games are rescheduled from last Friday, April 6, due to rain.
 
Shepherd 10, Kutztown 5
 
There were three tough innings for Kutztown, which used four different pitchers in the game, as Shepherd accounted for 15 hits and the KU defense made three errors in the field in a long, two-hour game.
 
The Rams put up three quick runs in the top of the first and then after the Golden Bears took the lead after one run in the first and three more in the bottom of the third, Shepherd took back the lead with a two-run fifth and then added five more insurance runs in the sixth.
 
Stevens had herself a game, going 3-for-3 at the plate with five RBIs and scored two runs. She had a double and two home runs. Her double in the bottom of the first inning brought home her team's first run of the day and her first long ball in the third, a three-run shot, put KU in front for the first time at 4-3. Stevens then added a solo drive the opposite way just over the right center field wall for Kutztown's fifth and final run of the game.
 
Kutztown 8, Shepherd 0
 
Gravish had success both inside the circle and at the plate, helping herself out by hitting her first career grand slam to finish off her victory that she started in quick fashion.
 
Kutztown scored all eight of its runs in two different innings. In a three-run, bottom of the third, Henn singled and Stevens walked and then Geesey followed up with a three-run drive for a 3-0 lead.
 
In that deciding fifth frame, Henn led off with a solo shot, Stevens doubled, Geesey walked and Reimel singled the opposite way to right field to load the bases. After Shepherd recorded its first out of the inning, Gravish stepped up and drove a 2-2 pitch well over the left field fence to walk it off and celebrate with her teammates. She also struck out four Rams batters.

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