WEST CHESTER, Pa. – In its second top-25 matchup in a week, No. 16 Kutztown softball and No. 25 West Chester had a back-and-forth, exciting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division doubleheader Tuesday afternoon that resulted in a split as KU took game one 6-3 in eight innings and WCU won game two 7-6.
 
The Golden Bears (19-6 overall, 3-3 PSAC) and Golden Rams (17-6, 3-3) each finished with 20 hits on the day. Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) and Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) both recorded four hits with Stevens collecting six RBIs and Stocklin scoring three runs. Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) tallied three hits and scored twice.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) threw a complete game in the opener, allowing seven hits and three runs, striking out five for her 10th victory of the season. She came on in relief in the nightcap and ended up on the losing end.
 
Kutztown will be home on back-to-back days this weekend in PSAC East action as KU will host Bloomsburg on Friday beginning at 2 p.m., and then will welcome Lock Haven to North Campus Field on Saturday with game one set to begin at 1 p.m.
 
Kutztown 6, West Chester 3 (8 inn.)
 
In a wild game that saw all of the runs but two scored in extra innings, Kutztown was able to break through in a five-run seventh where the two teams combined to score seven of the nine runs.
 
Stocklin had the go-ahead RBI on a fielder's choice, but Stevens had the all-important hit, a three-run home run that proved to be the game-winner after West Chester scored twice in the bottom-half of the eighth to threaten on back-to-back doubles to lead off the frame and a sacrifice fly.
 
Gravish shut the door down with three consecutive outs after the two straight doubles to open the eighth. The senior right-hander also saved the game for her team and forced extra innings in the bottom of the seventh after the Golden Rams got their first two batters on via singles to put the game-winning run at second base with nobody out in a 1-1 game. After a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third with one out, Gravish induced back-to-back outs without allowing the run on third to score.
 
Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) worked a walk with the bases loaded for an RBI in a scoreless game in the top of the fourth inning. Gravish held WCU off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth when it rallied after the first two batters got out. A single, a walk and another single tied the game after six.
 
Gravish's 10th victory puts her in sole possession of second in the PSAC for wins.
 
West Chester 7, Kutztown 6
 
Just like in game one, this game was decided in the final inning. But unlike in the opener, West Chester broke a deadlock and was able to walk it off for the win.
 
Kutztown scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to erase a 4-3 deficit and take a 6-4 lead, but the Golden Rams quickly responded with two runs in the bottom-half of the frame to tie the score and then salvaged the split with a walk off double with one out in the seventh.
 
Stevens singled in Stocklin for the first run of the game in the top of the first inning and the Golden Bears led 1-0. The Golden Rams tied the score with a run in the bottom of the first and then took the lead with one in the second.
 
Kutztown took back the lead with a run in each of the next two innings as Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) recorded an RBI single in the top of the third. And then Sarah Harvat (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) doubled in Slomkowski in the fourth for the 3-2 advantage. WCU took back the lead with a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth, but then Stevens was as it again as she tripled in two runs in the fifth and Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) added an RBI double as the Maroon and Gold went back on top 6-4.
 
But that was all the scoring KU had left.
 
There were three ties and three lead changes.
 
Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) had a hit in each game and Stocklin scored two runs in the nightcap.

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