WEST CHESTER, Pa. – For the first time in two weeks and eight games, Kutztown softball took to the road for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division doubleheader Thursday afternoon. KU was on top of its game all day in taking both from West Chester.
 
The Golden Bears (30-16 overall, 19-7 PSAC East) made quick work of the Golden Rams (24-20, 14-12) in the opener, winning 10-1 in five innings, and then closed out the day with a 9-3 victory in the nightcap. The 19 runs in the doubleheader is the second-most this season, behind just 22 runs in a two-game sweep over Mansfield back on April 10th, the last time the Maroon and Gold were away from home.
 
Kutztown had 22 hits combined. Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) and Taylor Gearhart (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) both finished with four hits on the day and combined for three doubles (Henn 2, Gearhart 1). Henn also scored four runs and Gearhart added two RBIs and two runs scored. Alexa Stevens (Jefferson Township, Pa./North Pocono), Parker Kraus (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and Ashley Schulz (Oreland, Pa./Springfield) all recorded three hits, with Stevens and Kraus both hitting a home run and earning five RBIs and four RBIs, respectively. Samantha Paetow (Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg) and Jamie Madara (Levittown, Pa./Academy of the New Church) both tallied two hits, while also contributing three RBIs each. Morgan Slomkowski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East) had a hit and Sophia Collins (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) notched an RBI and scored a run.
 
Amanda Slabicki (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) threw a complete game and gave up just a run in the fifth when the game was already decided for her sixth victory of the season. Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) started game two inside the circle and earned the win, throwing 4.2 innings, allowing just an earned run, striking out one, for her 19th win this season, tied for the PSAC lead. Abbey Wagner (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) earned her second save of the season as she tossed the final 2.1 innings of shutout ball.
 
Kutztown will remain on the road for a quick turnaround and take on Shepherd on Friday, with game one beginning at 1 p.m.
 
Kutztown 10, West Chester 1 (5 inn.)
 
The Kutztown lineup scored in every inning but one and only allowed a West Chester run in the bottom of the fifth when the game was already out of hand. Slabicki was able to shut down the Golden Rams through five innings and end the game early via the mercy rule, thanks as well to her offense.
 
KU finished with eight hits coming from seven different batters. Gearhart, who got the start in right field, led the way with two hits, including a two-run double, and scored a run. Each of Stevens, Kraus and Madara recorded a hit and two RBIs and Slomkowski tallied a hit and an RBI. Henn notched a hit and scored two runs and Schulz added a hit. Collins contributed an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning. Kraus and Slomkowski both hit home runs and Henn joined Gearhart with a double.
 
The Golden Bears took a 3-0 early lead after their first at-bats, highlighted by a Madara two-run single. They added on to that with a solo HR by Slomkowski in the third and then a Kraus two-run long ball in the fourth, following Collins' RBI sacrifice fly as they went on top 7-0. The run-rule came into effect in the fifth when Gearhart ripped a two-run double and Stevens picked up an RBI on a bases loaded walk for the 10 runs.
 
That was all Slabicki would need as she gave up just the lone run in the seventh.
 
Kutztown 9, West Chester 3
 
Paetow got the scoring going for her team, accounting for the first three runs of the game on an RBI single in the top of the first inning and a two-run double in the third. Madara made the lead 4-0 later in the frame with a run-scoring single.
 
West Chester would score three runs in the next three innings to cut its deficit to just one heading to the top of the sixth. But Kutztown responded in that inning with five runs, highlighted by a two-run single from Kraus and a three-run HR by Stevens.
 
Gravish and Wagner combined to secure the sweep for their team inside the circle, just as they did against East Stroudsburg on Tuesday.

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