BOCA RATON, Fla. – No. 19 Kutztown softball finished its eight-games-in-five-days trip down in Florida by splitting a pair of games at Lynn University Tuesday afternoon, bouncing back after losing game one 2-1 to take the second game 4-1.
 
The Golden Bears (16-3 overall) went 5-3 down south and, earlier in the day, rose from 21st nationally to 19th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll.
 
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) led the lineup with three hits on the day, all coming in game two when she went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Each of Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township), Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) and Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) finished with two hits and both Darnowski and Sarah Harvat (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) had an RBI.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) continued her surge inside the circle, earning the victory in game two, throwing a complete game allowing just the one run to improve to 8-1 this season.
 
Kutztown is scheduled to make its long-awaited home debut and begins play in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference as it welcomes East Stroudsburg to North Campus Field next Tuesday, March 18, for a matchup of nationally ranked teams. Game one is set for 1 p.m.
 
Lynn 2, Kutztown 1
 
Harvat accounted for Kutztown's lone run in the opener, a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning that brought home Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) to cut KU's deficit in half. But that was all the offense could muster up against Lynn starting pitcher Madi Prickett, who went the distance and struck out seven batters.
 
The Knights did just enough offensively to come out on top, scoring a run in both the bottom of the first and second innings.
 
Kutztown 4, Lynn 1
 
Kutztown wasted little time taking its first lead of the day as Harvat came up clutch in the top of the first inning by singling through the left side of the infield with the bases loaded and two outs for the first run of the game and then Darnowski recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second to put the Golden Bears out in front 2-0 early.
 
Henn led off the game with a single and then Darnowski and Stevens followed suit with singles of their own. The top of the second started off similarly as Jenna Piatkiewicz (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland) led off the frame with a single and then scored three batters later on Darnowski's sacrifice fly.
 
After a scoreless third inning, Henn doubled in Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) with one out for the third run of the game. KU added a fourth run in the top of the sixth. Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) and Stocklin singled in two of the first three at-bats, and then Henn brought home Geesey with a sacrifice fly and a 4-0 advantage.
 
Lynn would eventually get on the board with a single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Gravish kept the Knights at bay most of the way.

  Read Full Article