This past week, the West Chester University Golden Rams softball team swept PSAC East rival Shippensburg University, non-league opponents Bowie State and University of Sciences and split with Holy Family. West Chester (18-6, 3-1 PSAC East) sits tied in first place with East Stroudsburg in the Eastern Division.On March 21 against Holy Family, junior pitcher Brooke Muth tossed a complete-game shutout to pick up her fifth win of the season in the 4-0 opener. The three runs scored by the Golden Rams in the top of the second inning were all they needed as Muth dominated the entire afternoon.
Junior outfielder Erin MacNamee started the second inning with a walk. Senior outfielder Stef Kerbacher singled to shortstop to move MacNamee to second base. Two sacrifice bunts later, MacNamee scored the first run of the game. After senior Evelyn Anderson walked, senior shortstop Sam Ingersoll doubled home Kerbacher and Anderson to give West Chester a three-run lead.
Muth gave up one hit the remainder of the game as the Golden Rams came away with the victory. She pitched seven strong innings, giving up two hits, striking out six and walking two.
In the second game of the doubleheader, freshman pitcher Missy Schwartz pitched 4.1 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits while walking four as Holy Family came away with a 5-3 victory.
In the bottom of the second inning, Schwartz found herself in trouble as Holy Family had the bases loaded with two outs. Danielle McDevitt walked, which plated Lindsey Iden for the only run of the inning.
West Chester answered back with two runs of their own in the top of the third. Schwartz helped her own cause as she hit a homerun to centerfield. Senior first baseman Megan Harbaugh singled to right field which plated Anderson to give the Golden Rams the 2-1 lead.
Holy Family tied the game in the bottom of the fifth after Angela DiBeneditto hit a leadoff homerun. West Chester regained the lead in the sixth inning after Kerbacher singled home sophomore outfielder Mandy Gerhart.
Holy Family answered in the bottom of the sixth as they scored two runs to secure the victory. After Amanda Shaw walked and moved to third following a sacrifice bunt and a fly out to right field, Deanna Myers hit a two-run homerun for Holy Family to give them the victory.
On March 23, the Golden Rams swept division rival Shippensburg 10-3 and 11-9. In game one, West Chester dominated from start to finish as Muth picked up her sixth victory of the season after going seven innings, while allowing three runs on seven hits.
The Golden Rams got the scoring started in the bottom of the first as Harbaugh hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield which plated Schwartz. The Red Raiders answered with two runs in the second as Abby Block hit a two-run homerun to give Shippensburg the lead.
In the bottom of the second, MacNamee singled to right center field, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored after Kerbacher singled to left field. Shippensburg scored their final run of the game in the third after Hope Cornell singled to score Dana Ward.
In the bottom of the third, West Chester took the lead and never looked back. Anderson and Ingersoll singled to start the inning. Anderson scored after Harbaugh flied out to centerfield. Junior catcher Kate Kmiecinski hit a double to right center field which plated Ingersoll.
The Golden Rams added four runs in the fourth inning as Schwartz singled home Kerbacher, Ingersoll tripled home Anderson and Schwartz, and Harbaugh hit a sacrifice fly which plated Ingersoll.
West Chester scored two more runs over the final two innings to pull away from the Red Raiders.
Game two was more entertaining. Holding an 11-6 lead entering the top of the final inning, Schwartz looked to be in control. Shippensburg had another thing for the Golden Ram freshman as they loaded the bases with no outs and plating three runs to pull within two of West Chester. Muth entered the game and picked up her second save of the season as she got the Golden Rams out of trouble.
West Chester trailed by three after three innings before scoring seven runs on nine hits in the fourth inning and four runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding lead. Ingersoll finished the game 3-for-3 with a three-run homerun and a bases-loaded double to finish with six RBIs.
The Golden Rams capped off the week by sweeping University of the Sciences on the road and Bowie State at home.
Schwartz went 2-for-4 and pitched a complete game in game one against USP, while Kerbacher went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and stole two bases in game two to help West Chester get the sweep.
Schwartz allowed one unearned run on five hits, striking out two and walking one. Sophomore pitcher Sam Soprano picked up her fifth win of the season in game two as she went 4.1 innings, allowed two runs, six hits, struck out two and walked one.
Against Bowie State, the Golden Rams squeaked by in game one 5-3, but dominated game two, winning 14-0.
Schwartz picked up her fourth win of the season as she did not allow a hit in five innings while striking out five. Soprano took over in the sixth and allowed a two-run homerun. Anderson went 3-for-4 in game one with three runs scored.
Muth pitched a one-hit shutout in game two as she struck out seven and faced one over the minimum in the five inning affair. West Chester scored nine first inning runs which helped Muth in the game.
Anderson went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored in the nightcap. Ingersoll went 3-for-3 with four RBIs.
This week, West Chester hosts Millersville University on Tuesday in a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m. and travels to Kutztown University on Friday for a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m. in a PSAC East matchup during both games. On Saturday, the Golden Rams travel to Mansfield University in an out-of-division matchup with the Mountaineers beginning at 2:30 p.m.
LJ Harrell is a fourth-year student majoring in Marketing. He can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.