SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Eight different batters finished with at least two hits and both starting pitchers earned victories inside the circle as No. 15 Kutztown saw a successful Saturday at Shippensburg, sweeping the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference doubleheader at Robb Field.
 
The Golden Bears (27-8 overall, 11-5 PSAC) won game one 6-4 and then took game two 12-8.
 
Naya Darnowski (Manchester, N.J./Manchester Township) led the lineup with five hits on the day, adding an RBI and two runs scored. Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley), Kristin Geesey (Bainbridge, Pa./Elizabethtown), Jenna Piatkiewicz (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland) and Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) all finished with three hits and Sarah Harvat (Bangor, Pa./Bangor), Alexa Stevens (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) and Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) each recorded two hits. Stevens, Slomkowski and Piatkiewicz all connected for home runs in the second game with the latter two hitting HRs on back-to-back days.
 
Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) threw a complete game for the win in the opener, striking out five and giving up just seven hits and the four runs to improve to 16-4 on the season. Natalee Harvey (Swanton, Vt./Missisquoi Valley Union) started the nightcap and threw 6.1 innings to pick up her third win on the year.
 
Kutztown will next have a nationally-ranked matchup with East Stroudsburg on the road next Tuesday, April 8, with game one beginning at 1 p.m.
 
Kutztown 6, Shippensburg 4
 
After a scoreless first three innings of play, action picked up in the next three innings as the teams combined to score all 10 of the game's runs.
 
Kutztown kicked things off with a four-run, top of the fourth inning with two RBI singles by Piatkiewicz and Darnowski and an RBI from Geesey. Shippensburg responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut its deficit to just one, but Henn made sure to add some much-needed insurance with a two-run single in the top of the sixth.
 
The Raiders added one in the bottom-half of the sixth, but Gravish made sure it stopped there and walked off the circle with another win.
 
Kutztown 12, Shippensburg 8
 
It was an offensive type of game in game two as the teams combined for 20 runs and 24 hits.
 
The Golden Bears never trailed, but it seemed that every time they put together some offense, Shippensburg answered. KU scored three runs in the top of the first inning via a Stevens three-run long ball, but the Raiders also got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom-half of the frame.
 
They tied the game with a two-run bottom of the third before Slomkowski delivered an important hit, a three-run HR over the left field wall for the 6-3 lead. The Raiders connected on a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning and the game went into the seventh with the Maroon and Gold ahead 6-5.
 
The final inning was a wild one as both teams nearly doubled up their scoring outputs. KU put up six runs with Slomkowski, Paetow and Geesey all tallying an RBI and then Piatkiewicz delivering the third three-run HR of the game as Kutztown went up 12-5.
 
Shippensburg got three right back with one swing of the bat by Caitlyn Martell, her second long ball of the game, but Gravish entered with one out in the bottom of the seventh and shut the door on a potential late-game rally.

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