Box Score 1 | Box Score 2



PEMBROKE, N.C. – Kutztown softball opened its 2025 campaign in style by winning both of its games Saturday against two different opponents, in two different styles. KU scored double figure runs and shutout Felician 11-0 in five innings in the opening game of 2025 and then held on late to take care of host UNC Pembroke at Purnell Swett High School in Pembroke, N.C.
 
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) finished with four hits on the day, while Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) and Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) each had three hits, none bigger on the day than Slomkowski's two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie and send the Golden Bears (2-0 overall) the two-game sweep.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) started and won game one inside the circle, while Amanda Slabicki (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) came on in relief and recorded the victory in game two.
 
Kutztown is back out on the diamond tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 1, for another doubleheader where it will again first take on the Golden Falcons at 10 a.m., followed by a game against Davis & Elkins at 12:30 p.m.
 
Kutztown 11, Felician 0 (5 inn.)
 
Kutztown played a complete game in its season opener, both in the batter's box and out on the field. KU, which scored double digit runs 10 times in 2024, already brought the tally to one in 2025 and shutout Felician for the second straight year on opening day. Last season, the Golden Bears defeated the Golden Falcons 9-0 in the season opener on Feb. 2.
 
The Maroon and Gold's 11 runs came on 10 hits, with Jenna Piatkiewicz (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland), Henn, Stevens and Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) all finishing with two hits apiece.
 
Stevens, who recorded two extra-base hits with a double and a home run, led the team with three RBIs and three runs scored. Her RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning put the game into run-rule effect. Henn tallied two RBIs, including the game's opening score on an RBI single that brought around Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) in the bottom of the first inning. The sophomore also had an RBI double just before Stevens in the fourth and crossed home plate three times. In her first collegiate game, Paetow burst onto the scene and notched two RBIs herself, with a run-scoring single in the first and an RBI double in the fourth, to join the party of three run-scoring doubles in the frame.
 
Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) and Slomkowski both accounted for a hit and two RBIs, with Geesey tacking on another double on the day.
 
Gravish threw the first four innings and allowed just two hits, striking out seven for her first victory on the year.
 
Kutztown 3, UNC Pembroke 2
 
It was a much closer one in the night cap as KU finished one run ahead of the Braves and outhit them 7-6.
 
After two scoreless innings to begin the game, Pembroke got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the third on an RBI single after getting the lead runner on base.
 
But the Golden Bears answered immediately in the next half inning as Henn led off with a triple and came home the following batter with Stevens recording an RBI groundout the other way to second base to tie the score at 1-1.
 
In the top of the sixth, Henn once again got things going for her team as she led off with a single to center field. Two batters later, Slomkowski connected on a two-run HR the opposite way over the right field fence for the go-ahead, 3-1 lead.
 
Slabicki, who entered the game in the bottom of the third inning, closed it out for KU, throwing the final 4.1 innings, giving up just three hits and an unearned run with a strikeout.
 
Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) went 2-for-3 at the plate.