GLENVILLE, W.V.- After an 18-day layoff, the West Chester University softball team (2-5) was back in action in a conference contest against a Mountain East Conference (MEC) foe in Fairmont State (0-2). West Chester captured game one by a final score of 5-1 before winning game two by a final of 11-5.
Game One:
In the second inning, West Chester opened up the scoring thanks to a pair of RBI singles from Emily Kim (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) and Annamarie Hartman (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) to claim an early 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, West Chester added to its lead thanks to a two-RBI double from Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) that plated Gillian Thomas (Spring Mills, W.V./Williamsport) and Alisha Patel (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Township) to give the Golden Rams a 4-0 lead. This lead grew moments later when Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) registered an RBI single of her own to plate Garber and extend the lead to 5-0 in favor of the Golden Rams.
Fairmont State got on one back during the home half of the fifth, but this was as close the Falcons would get in the 5-1 loss at the hands of the Golden Rams.
Reilly Gearhart (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) pitched well for the Golden Rams once again as she went seven innings surrendering just four hits and one run while striking out five to earn her first victory wearing the purple and gold.
Game Two:
In game two, offense was the story as West Chester scored seven runs in the first two innings of play to claim a commanding lead that the Golden Rams would never relinquish.
In the first inning, West Chester put together a two-out rally to post a three-run inning to open up the contest. Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) plated the first run of the game with an RBI triple that allowed Stump to scamper home before Maseth came around to score thanks to a ringing double off the bat of Heidi McCollester (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) to make the score 2-0. McCollester came into score moments later thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Jaime Klemas (South Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick), which made the score 3-0 in favor of the purple and gold.
Fairmont State registered a run of its own in the home half of the first, which cut the lead to 3-1 heading to the second.
However, the Golden Rams remained unfazed as they registered a four-spot thanks to some aggressive and smart base running in the second to take a commanding 7-1 lead to the third inning of play.
McCollester extended the lead in the fifth when she connected on her first home run of the Spring to make the score 8-1 in favor of the Golden Rams.
In the home half of the fifth, Fairmont State answered back with a pair of home runs to cut the deficit to 8-4, which also closed the book West Chester starter Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) (1-1) as Jen Hanshaw (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) entered for the final eight outs to earn the save.
West Chester answered back quickly in the sixth as the Golden Rams capitalized on a huge throwing error by the Falcons to clear the bases and make the score 11-4 in favor of the Golden Rams.
Fairmont State added one more run in the home half of the sixth, which trimmed the deficit to 11-5 but this was all the Falcons could muster as West Chester held on to register the sweep.
Tinsman pitched well over the course of her 4.1 to earn her first victory of the Spring as she surrendered just five hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out one in the victory. Hanshaw also pitched well in relief as she allowed one run on one hit and one walk to nail down the save.
West Chester will see Fairmont State again soon as the two teams are scheduled to meet on March 9th in Florida during the Golden Rams annual Spring Break visit to the Sunshine State.