On Thursday, April 5, West Chester women’s softball played a double header against Kutztown University. The Lady Rams were victorious in both games and won with ease. They blew out Kutztown and looked like fierce competitors out on the field.
In game one, West Chester had an early 3-0 lead because of an RBI single from Cat Hammer and some bases-loaded walks helped put up two more runs.
Once the game reached the third inning, it was bad news for Kutztown. West Chester dominated in hitting and scored six runs. The inning started with Bri Garber outplaying the pitcher. She was walked with bases loaded to bring in a run. Soon after, Annamarie Hartman cleared the bases with an RBI single to right field that put West Chester up to a 7-0 lead. Alyssa Herion put more points on the board by hitting a two-run home run over the left field fence to give West Chester a dominant 9-0 lead.
After all of West Chester’s dominance in the third, Kutztown managed to score one run in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, West Chester scored yet another three runs with Heidi McCollester hitting a home run to left. West Chester headed into the fifth inning with a monstrous 12-1 lead.
Pitcher Amanda Houck finished the game pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth to give West Chester a stupendous 12-1 victory.
West Chester brought what they had from the first game and carried it over to the second. In the bottom of the first, Hammer had an RBI groundout and Emily Maseth had RBI singles to give West Chester an early 3-0 lead.
Herion had herself another home run in the bottom of the third to give West Chester a 4-0 lead. Once the fourth inning came around, Herion hit a double down the left field line to score a run. The Lady Rams had a 5-0 lead going into the fifth inning.
Kutztown finally put a run on the board with a leadoff home run in the top of the fifth, but they only managed to score one run. West Chester decided to add more runs with strong offense in the bottom of the fifth. Madison Kelly started things off by stealing home after a wild pitch from the Kutztown pitcher. Soon after, McCollester had a single that knocked in another run. A few singles were hit to get West Chester to have the bases loaded, then Herion stepped up to the plate. Herion did it again with a double to left center to increase the lead to 9-1.
Despite the strong offense that West Chester brought to the two games, the pitching performance from Houck was impressive. Houck only allowed three hits and one run in each game. Heroin had herself an amazing game as well, going 7-for-7 on the day.
This dominance over Kutztown University shows that West Chester is a team that should be feared this season. They are on a four-game win streak as well. If West Chester continues to play like they did against Kutztown, then they will be strong contenders for the PSAC tournament in May.
Ryan Bednash is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in journalism. ✉ RB842278@wcupa.edu.