KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The 16th ranked Kutztown softball team had both its bats and arms working Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division doubleheader sweep over Lock Haven at North Campus Field.
Â
The Golden Bears put up nine runs, the most scored in a game this season since they scored 12 on Feb. 15, against Winston Salem State, in winning the opener 9-0 in five innings. The Maroon and Gold then rode the arms of
Abbey Wagner (Quakertown, Pa./Qaukertown) and
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) in the second game, winning 3-1.
Â
It is the second straight PSAC doubleheader sweep on back-to-back days, beating Bloomsburg twice on Friday.
Â
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) finished with a four-hit day, scored three runs and added two RBIs. Both her and
Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East), who had three hits on the day, homered. Slomkowski also scored three runs and added two RBIs.
Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown) recorded two hits and three RBIs and
Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) had two hits and an RBI.
Â
Gravish threw a complete game in the opener, allowing just two hits and striking out nine batters and improved her record to 13-3. Wagner threw the first four innings of the nightcap and earned the win, remaining a perfect 4-0 on the season.
Â
Kutztown is next at Shepherd for two games on Tuesday, April 1, beginning at 1 p.m.
Â
Kutztown 9, Lock Haven 0 (5 inn.)
Â
For what seems like the first time in conference play, the Kutztown bats came alive from top to bottom as KU finished with nine runs on eight hits and made quick work of Lock Haven in the opener.
Â
Henn led the charge with three hits, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to get things going for the Golden Bears. It was the sophomore's second long ball of the season and first since Feb. 15, at Mount Olive. She also had two RBIs and scored two runs in three plate appearances. Slomkowski, Friday's hero, was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored, also connecting on a two-run HR in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the game into the mercy rule.
Â
Both Geesey and Piatkiewicz contributed two RBIs and scored a run, all coming in a busy bottom of the third inning where the Maroon and Gold scored five runs to take full control of the contest.
Brianna Stocklin (Deptford, N.J./Deptford Township) also added an RBI in the third on a single up the middle.
Â
Gravish had little trouble, throwing all five innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine batters for her 13th victory of the season. She threw just 74 pitches.
Â
Kutztown 3, Lock Haven 1
Â
There were less fireworks with the bats, but the Kutztown lineup still produced enough in the early innings as it jumped out to a 3-0 lead with one run in the bottom of the first and two more in the fourth and then used the arms of Wagner and Gravish to combine for the win.
Â
Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) singled the opposite way to score Henn for the first run of the game. In the fourth, Paetow doubled in Slomkowski and then Geesey followed with a run-scoring single to bring around Paetow for the 3-0 advantage.
Â
That was all KU needed as Wagner started and threw the first four innings, allowing four hits and a run. Gravish entered in the fifth and finished with the same line, four hits and a run, striking out three.
Â