STROUDSBURG, Pa. – After losing a lead and falling in the opening game of the day, Kutztown softball, with its season then on the line, battled back and took the second game over Shippensburg to advance out of the NCAA Atlantic Region four-team pod Sunday at Creekview Park and move on to Super Regionals.
 
The Golden Bears (36-23 overall) held a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning, but the Raiders (36-21) scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to stave off elimination with a 9-4 victory. The Maroon and Gold, now needing to win to extend their season, fell behind 1-0 early, but rattled off five straight runs and won 5-1.
 
Kutztown will now travel to Charleston, W.Va., to play the third-seeded Golden Eagles in the best-of-three series at Super Regionals, beginning Tuesday, May 14.
 
Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) was 4-for-6 with a run scored to lead the offense. Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) and Hannah Reimel (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) both finished with three hits and three RBIs and scored a run, with the former recording a home run in the opener. Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) and Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) also both recorded three hits and an RBI.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) had a bounce back game inside the circle in game two and earned her 22nd win of the season, throwing a complete game, allowing just one run.
 
Shippensburg 9, Kutztown 4
 
For the first time in seven games in 2024, Kutztown was defeated by Shippensburg. KU was 6-0 in its previous six games, including two in the postseason (one in PSACs and one on Thursday in regionals).
 
And it looked as if the Golden Bears would run a clean sweep of seven straight wins over the Raiders as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead after scoring a run in both the top of the first and second innings and then two more in the third.
 
But a seven-run, bottom of the fifth inning got Shippensburg going where it not only got on the scoreboard for the first time in the game, but took the lead and then tacked on two more in the sixth and held on for the elimination victory.
 
Reimel and Stocklin each recorded RBI singles in the first and second innings, respectively, and Slomkowski smacked a two-run home run to right center field to round out the scoring for KU.
 
In the fifth, however, the Raiders brought 13 batters to the plate, recorded eight hits and had 10 batters successfully reach to put a spark into them and take control of the game.
 
Starting pitcher, Alicia Ball, was able to finish out the game and earn the win, throwing seven innings, allowing three earned runs.
 
Kutztown 5, Shippensburg 1
 
With identical lineups from both teams, including both starting pitchers, it was a different result in the end as Kutztown actually fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first inning, but answered with three in the bottom-half and then added two more in the fourth and held on to dispatch of Shippensburg and advance to Super Regionals this week.
 
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley), who made a couple of nice catches in left field, had one in the top of the first, stealing a hit and a potential double away from the Raiders' leadoff hitter. That could've brought on more scoring than what actually did happen for Shippensburg as it had the next three batters single and came away with a run.
 
The Golden Bears responded as Stocklin walked to lead off the bottom of the first and then Darnowski singled. Two batters later, Reimel once again came through in the clutch with a two-run base hit. Slomkowski brought around Reimel with a run-scoring single, following a hit by Brianna Hughes (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland).
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Gravish helped herself out with an RBI on a fielder's choice and then Darnowski added an RBI single.
 
Gravish was dialed in the entirety of this one and was never really threatened at a long inning. She allowed just the one run and struck out two.

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