As the season comes near it’s end the Lady Rams are looking to continue their winning way heading into the upcoming PSAC Championships in the next two weeks.
The teams that the Lady Rams played against are Lock Haven University, Shippensburg University, Millersville University and Mansfield University.
Starting off the double-header against Shippensburg University, the Golden Rams found easy success in the first game as they dominated with a score of 6-0. Offense was not a problem for WCU as they totaled 11 hits and also brought in six runs. Some standouts from this game were shortstop Sarah Derstine who came up big with two hits, and brought in three runs to help keep the momentum strong in the middle of the game. Also, first baseman Micaela McSpadden started off the Lady Rams offense with a one run double in the first inning and along with Catcher Erin Quense ended the game with a single homerun to complete the shutout. Pitcher Amanda Houck had a great pitching day as well only giving up eight hits, and had four strikeouts as her record increases to 11 wins and 3 losses on the season.
Sliding right to the next game, WCU got themselves another great win with a score of 7-2. This game was a lot more action packed as Shippensburg managed to put up only two runs this game compared to zero in the first game. West Chester totaled ten hits on the day and Shippensburg totaled seven hits, only being able to produce just two runs as the offense was not flowing. Third basemen Laura Altenburger came to play this game as she controlled the offense totaling five huge runs. She at first in the fourth inning brought in a run off of a double, and then in the fifth inning she hit a grand slam which sealed the win for the Lady Rams. Overall the Lady
Rams offense was on fire as in this double header against Shippensburg they totaled 13 runs to their 2 runs in this doubleheader.
Swinging to the next series, the Golden Rams‘ next opponent was against Lock Haven University where they spilt the series one game apiece. The Lady Rams lost the first game by a score 4-2, as they held their opponent scoreless until the final inning of the game where Left Fielder Paige Stuppy hit a Grand Slam to seal the Rams fate in a heartbreaking loss. The Golden Rams offense was as on point as they were against the series from Shippensburg as they only got five hits compared to averaging ten hits a game.
In the second game of the Doubleheader, the Lady Rams came back with a force as they won in a close game by a score of 6-5. The key contributions were from Derstine as she brought in two key runs, Center Fielder Sarah Walasavage grounded out to fielder’s choice and thus bringing in a run as well. WCU had to fight this game as Lock Haven homered in the fifth and sixth innings to bring it to a tie game 5-5, and it took until the 9th inning for Right Fielder Ali Vavala to get the game winning double to give the Rams a 6-5 win.
Next WCU opponent was Millersville University, where they took both games with scores of 4-1 and the second game with a score of 3-2. Some key players in these wins were designated hitter Erin Whitman as in the first game she hit a three run homer to seal the victory, as they were battling back and forth the entire game, trying to break that one run tie.
In the second game, Millersville took a quick 2-0 lead early in the first and sixth innings, but the Lady Rams fought back as they rallied to get two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to send the game to extra innings! Afterward Derstine hit the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Golden Rams another hard earned victory.
Going up against Mansfield University, The Lady Rams dominated both games with socres of 9-0, and 5-0 in the second game. Offense and defense came easy for them in the first game as they had a total of twelve hits, and only giving up just one hit the whole game. Offense does not seem like a problem for the Lady Rams as they kept it going in the second game as well. As once again WCU had a total of twelve hits and again giving up only just one hit to Mansfield University.
Next up for West Chester was a double-header against Bloomsburg University at home on Saturday afternoon.
The first game was another stellar pitching performance from Amanda Houck only giving up two hits and one run in the complete game win. She pushed her record to 16-4 on the year. She did exactly what the Golden Rams needed her to do, and their offense was able to breath.
The offense tacked on three runs in the third inning off back-to-back singles from Sarah Derstine and Erin Whitman. The two of them went four-for-seven on the the game really giving the middle of the lienup pop for West Chester.
West Chester added another insurance run in the seventh on a Micaela McSpadden sacrafice fly which pushed the lead to 4-0, and they closed out the first game of the double-header with a 4-1 win. This pushed their win streak to eight games as they headed into the second game against Bloomsburg.
The second game was a little different for the Golden Rams. It was just the second time in two weeks that the Golden Rams allowed more then four runs.
West Chester got off to a good start capturing the lead in the first couple of innings and were heading into the fifth with a 2-1 lead. Katie Erb came on in relief for West Chester, and she allowed three runs on two hits and three walks in two innings and she recorded her first loss on the season dropping her record to 7-1. Bloomsburg captured the lead in the sixth after West Chester tied it in the bottom half of the fifth on a solo homerun by McSpadden. But an RBI double and a West Chester error allowed three runs to score and give Bloomsburg the lead and the eventual win.
This was the first loss for West Chester in nine games. They now have a record of 34-12 as they prepare for the rest of the season.
They have two more double-headers to round out the regular season. They will be on the road against Lock Haven on Friday and then they will come home to host Kutztwon the following day to wrap-up the regular season and they will start preparing for the post-season.
Marcelus Council-Jones is a third-year student and can be reached at MC785844@wcupa.edu