Softball: Lady Wildcats Split with New Kensington

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Freshman Rachael Shaeffer (Hampstead, Md.) was 3 for 7 with three RBI as the Pennsylvania College of Technology softball team split a Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) with Penn State New Kensington Tuesday. The Wildcats came back and took game one in eight innings 6-5 and looked poised to do the same in game two but fell 8-7. Junior Lacy Lose (Avis) recorded the win in game one recording ten strikeouts. With the split, Penn College is now 3-11 and 1-3 in the PSUAC.  

In the opener, Penn College put up a run in the first when freshman Karey Wolfe (Milton) got an RBI off a sacrifice bunt. After the Lions tied it in the second, the team came back in the bottom of the inning when sophomore Stephanie Keifrider (Douglassville) hit a sacrifice fly to score Lose who got on with a triple.  

Down 4-2 in the sixth, the Lady Wildcats scored three runs to take the lead. In the inning, Lose racked up her second triple of the game and notched an RBI in the process. They also capitalized on a New Kensington error with two outs scoring two runs for the 5-4 lead.  

In the seventh, New Kensington scored on a two-out error to tie it up. The Lady Wildcats threatened in the bottom but could not get a run across sending the game into extra innings and going to international tiebreaker.

After shutting down the Lions in the top, Penn College scored the game winner off a two-out double from freshman Katie Kratzer (Selinsgrove).

Lose recorded the win with two earned runs and ten strikeouts. She also did her job at the plate going 2 for 4 with an RBI and run. Kratzer and Shaeffer also ended the game with two hits each.

As a team, the Wildcats racked up 10 hits in the game.

In the second game, after the Lions scored three in the top of the first, sophomore Stephanie Koleno (Moshannon) put Penn College back to within one with a double to left that scored two in the bottom of the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Wildcats looked poised to tie the game. With a runner on third and two outs, sophomore Casey Davis (New Albany) hit a sharp liner that was snagged by New Kensington's Breana Cass to end the threat.

Freshman Kimberly Walter (Beavertown) came in relief for starter Lose in the fifth. Lose closed out her book pitching four innings with one earned run and two strikeouts.

Penn College tied it up at three in the sixth when Shaeffer hit in Krazter who led the inning with a single.

Two errors in the seventh helped the Lions to five runs to lead 8-3. Penn College put together a four-run effort off of four hits in the bottom coming up just short for the loss. Sophomore Britni Fennell (Conyngham) and Shaeffer both hit RBI doubles in the inning.

Walter recorded the loss with three innings of work, two earned runs and six strikeouts. Also for the Lady Wildcats, Shaeffer was 1 for 3 with two runs and three RBI and freshman Nicole Lo Furno (Glen Mills) was 2 for 2.

Next up, Penn College hosts Elmira College on Wednesday, Apr. 3 for a 2 p.m. doubleheader.