Top Seeds Fall into Loser's Bracket as DuBois, Mont Alto Pull Upsets

DUBOIS, Pa. - The first two games of the 2025 PSUAC Softball Championship Tournament played out according to seeds, but after that chaos reigned as the top two seeds were upset in the first round of the double-elimination bracket on Friday at Heindl Field in DuBois, Pa.

Penn State DuBois and Penn State Mont Alto authored those upsets, toppling Penn State Schuylkill and Penn State New Kensington, respectively. 

DuBois opened the weekend event with a 12-7 win over Penn State Beaver. Jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, DuBois added to the tally with five more in the third to grab a 9-1 lead. Beaver cut the lead to 9-7 after scoring three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, but Theresa Luongo shut down the rally in relief as DuBois added three more runs to their cushion in the bottom of the sixth. Sienna Barnhart, Chelsea Busatto and Audrey Walker each had three hits, including a Barnhart homer, as DuBois advanced out of the day's first elimination game.

Mont Alto followed with a win in their elimination game, scoring 10 runs on just six hits as they knocked out Penn State Scranton 10-1 in a five inning run-rule victory. Mackenzie Stake shut down Scranton over five, striking out eight and allowing just four hits. Abigail Cunningham was the only player with two hits in the game, also scoring twice and driving in a run.

DuBois continued its big inning prowess, pushing across five runs in the third inning against top-seeded Schuylkill. Schuylkill answered with four of their own in the bottom of the inning, but this time Kelsey Stuart came into relieve Luongo and shut down Schuylkill over five innings of relief. Audrey Walker drove in three runs for the victors as DuBois claimed a 7-4 win and the first upset of the weekend.

New Kensington and Mont Alto met next, with Mont Alto jumping out to a 2-0 lead after taking advantage of two early errors. Mont Alto would extend the lead to 6-1 in the fourth as Rachel Alleman homered and Cammble Sterney doubled in a run. Alyssa Wiles closed out the inning's scoring with a two-run double to center before New Kensington made a push. Scoring two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, it wasn't enough as Paige Loudenslager shut the door in her complete game performance. 

New Kensington and Schuylkill will now meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning in an elimination game with DuBois and Mont Alto to follow in the winner's bracket final. The winner of the latter game will advance to Sunday's Championship game with the loser meeting the New Kensington-Schuylkill winner if the final of the loser's bracket on Saturday night.