As the season comes to a close, the Lady Rams have had a great season of success, winning the majority of their games and even going on a couple of winning streaks as well. The Golden Rams ended the last week of their season with a record of seven wins and just one loss in four doubleheaders. The teams they played against were East Stroudsburg University, Bloomsburg University, Lock Haven University, and Kutztown University.
Starting off with the doubleheader against East Stroudsburg University, WCU saw victory in just five innings with a score of 9-1. The Rams totaled seven hits, and capitalized on many pitching errors and field errors to score about half of their runs. The offense also came up big as center fielder Sarah Walasavage hit a solo homerun in the 4th inning, as the Lady Rams were already up by six runs at that point. Pitcher Amanda Houck pitched all five innings giving up five hits while striking out two and only allowing one run.
Heading into the next game of the double header, the Lady Rams sought another victory as they swept ESU with a score of 4-2 in a much closer game. The Golden Rams had to fight a little bit harder as they did not score until the key fourth inning, and that would be just enough to get the job done. Some standouts in the win were catcher Cat Hammer who hit a key 2-run home run in that fourth inning, and third basemen Laura Altenburger, who hit a single that drove in a run to give the Rams momentum to keep ESU from scoring the rest of the game.
Sliding over to the next games against Bloomsburg University, WCU spilt this series winning the first game by a score of 4-1. The Golden Rams found no problems getting the offense started as they totaled nine hits and got the momentum started in the top of the third inning driving in three runs. designated pinch hitter Erin Whitman brought in two runs off of a single, which gave the Rams a nice lead heading into the seventh inning, where they sealed the deal by giving up only one run. Houck had a nice pitching day as she only gave up just two hits and one run, while getting a strikeout and pitching the entire game as well.
In the second game, the Golden Rams were not able to pull out the victory, losing by a score of 5-3. The Lady Rams started off the first two innings strong, taking a 2-0 lead, but were not able to score another run until the 6th inning as the offense was just not there. However, a key highlight in the game was in the 6th inning when first baseman Micaela McSpadden hit a solo homerun in a last effort for the Rams to comeback after Bloomsburg scored three runs in that inning.
Heading to the second to last doubleheader of the season, their next opponent was Lock Haven University, where the Lady Rams saw a sweep of victories, winning both games. In the first game, they won by a shutout score of 4-0. The Golden Rams offense was in sync, driving in 11 runs until the 6th inning, where they got all four runs. The players responsible were Walasavage, Whitman, who drove in a run, and pinch hitter Cat Hammer who drove in two runs as well.
The Golden Rams saw success again as they took the victory by a score of 6-2, with a little bit of a rocky start but finished strong. WCU battled in the first inning as they drove in a run, but Lock Haven came right back at them, scoring two runs in the first, which would be the last time they scored. WCU gathered a total of 12 hits this game, with some key ones from catcher Erin Quense who had a solo homerun in the 3rd inning, after Walasavage and shortstop Sarah Derstine each brought in a run in the second inning to get it all started.
In the final doubleheader of the season against Kutztown University, the Lady Rams ended with success as they won both games heading into the PSAC tournament. In the first game, the Rams won by a score of 5-3, dominating on the offensive end by totaling 12 hits. A key player in this big win was Houck, as she had nine strikeouts, keeping Kutztown swinging all over the place. In the second game, they took the victory by a score of 7-2, in which the Lady Rams completely dominated. Kutztown was only able to score just two runs off of one hit in the 6th inning, while the Golden Rams totaled 13 hits while Derstine and Whitman both homered in the bottom 6th inning to seal the final game of the season.
As the season comes to a close, WCU finishes with a record of 38 wins and 12 losses, winning 76 percent of their games and heading into the PSAC Tournament with all the momentum in the world.
Marcelus Council-Jones is a third-year student and can be reached at MC785844@wcupa.edu.