KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The No. 19 Kutztown softball team won two important games Tuesday afternoon in taking down Shepherd, which sat just ahead of KU in the standings in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Divisional standings, at North Campus Field.
The Golden Bears (34-13 overall, 18-10 PSAC) won game one 2-0 and came out on top of game two 7-2 to jump the Rams (21-18-1, 17-10-1) in the standings.
Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) finished with four hits on the day to lead the lineup, scoring two runs and chipping in an RBI. Both
Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) and
Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) recorded three hits with Henn contributing two RBIs and scoring three runs and Darnowski adding an RBI and scoring three runs.
Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) and
Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) each tallied an RBI and a hit.
Inside the circle both
Natalee Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) and
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) were dominant, each throwing complete game three-hitters for wins. Harvey started the opener and earned the shutout win for her fourth victory of the season. Gravish threw game two and is now 22-6 on the season.
Kutztown heads into the final weekend of the regular season with its next games at Millersville this Friday, April 25, with game one beginning at 1 p.m. The regular season finale is set for Saturday, April 26, against Shippensburg at North Campus Field for senior day.
Kutztown 2, Shepherd 0
A hit from each of Stevens and Henn was all Kutztown and Harvey needed to take the opener. It was a defensive game as the two teams combined for just six hits, with KU recording four of them.
After two quick outs by the first two batters for KU in the bottom of the first inning, the duo combined to score the game's first run as Henn doubled to left field to give her team their first hit and then Stevens followed with an RBI single to bring around Henn for the first run of the game.
The Golden Bears added an insurance run in the bottom of the third inning, also coming with two outs, as Darnowski singled to left field and then scored one batter later as Henn tripled to right center field for the all-important 2-0 lead.
Harvey was in control for most of the game, limiting base runners and only allowing two hits for the shutout victory and improve her record to 4-4 on the season.
Kutztown 7, Shepherd 2
Just as it did in game one, Kutztown got ahead early with a two-run, bottom of the first inning, highlighted by a Paetow RBI single. The runs almost never came, as in a wild turn of events, with two outs, Slomkowski struck out, but the ball hit the dirt on her swing and the junior smartly ran to first base while Shepherd's catcher ran towards her dugout thinking the inning was over. When she tried to quickly throw to first, Slomkowski was already safe and Henn, standing on third base during the at-bat, smartly raced towards home for the game's opening run. Paetow made them pay with a single through the right side to score Stevens.
In the bottom of the third, Darnowski connected on her seventh home run of the season, a solo shot. Slomkowski then got into the party with an RBI single to bring home Stevens for the 4-0 lead.
The Rams cut their deficit in half with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Gravish buckled in from that point on and allowed just one hit the rest of the way. The Golden Bears added three more in the sixth on a Henn double and Shepherd throwing error.
