Kutztown University Athletics

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A drawn-out Wednesday at the PSAC Softball Championship due to steady rain and elongated games didn't see Eastern Division top seed Kutztown take the field until nearly 9 p.m. The Golden Bears fell behind West Chester early and couldn't recover in a 9-5 loss at Greenlight Networks Grand Slam Park.
 
The setback sends the Maroon and Gold into an elimination game against the winner of Thursday morning's Clarion/Slippery Rock game at approximately 3 p.m.
 
Kutztown (34-19) was forced to play from behind from the start after yielding five runs to the Golden Rams in the top of the first. A bases-clearing 3-run double from Danielle Ciliberto provided most of the juice for West Chester (29-23) in the opening frame.
 
Freshman Morgan Kocher (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) blasted the first pitch she saw from WCU pitcher Maci Strechay over the center field wall for her first career home run to get the Bears on the board in the bottom of the first.
 
West Chester added a run in the second to make it 6-1 before a sacrifice fly from Jamie Madara (Levittown, Pa./Academy of the New Church) and an Emily Henn (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) RBI single trimmed the Golden Rams' lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the inning.
 
That score held until the fifth when both teams pushed a pair of runs across the plate.
 
Mairead Hopkins hit a two-run shot for WCU, while Kutztown countered with a run-scoring groundout from Ashley Schulz (Oreland, Pa./Springfield) and Jenna Piatkiewicz's (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland) RBI single to close the gap back to three, 8-5.
 
Hopkins added another run of insurance with an RBI double in the seventh. Ciliberto kept KU off the board over the final two innings to close out the win for the Golden Rams.
 
The Golden Bears racked up 11 hits in defeat, the 18th time this season they've recorded double-digit hits in a game. Kocher was 2-for-4 and Alexa Stevens (Jefferson Township, Pa./North Pocono) hit a pair of doubles in a 2-for-3 evening. All nine batters in the KU lineup recorded at least one hit.
 
Hopkins finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Julia Miller also had three hits and WCU finished with 14 knocks overall.
 
Ciliberto earned the win in relief by allowing two runs (none earned) on five hits over the final 4.2 innings. Amanda Slabicki (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) suffered the loss after she was tagged for five runs (three earned) in one-third of an inning. Haley Gravish (Hamburg, Pa./Hamburg) struck out six and gave up four runs (three earned) on 11 hits while going the rest of the way.
 
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