The official site of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference

West Chester Claims PSAC Softball Championship

Sunday, April 30, 2017 8:00 PM

 

TICKETS	FACILITY INFORMATION	CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION	PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
$15 per day $7 per day for kids & senior citizens	Directions/Map	Statistics	Year-by-Year PSAC Champions
Free - Children 12U	Quakertown, Pa. Weather	Standings	PSAC Records
Free - PSAC Students w/ ID	Quakertown Restaurants	Schedule/Results	Postseason Award History
	Veterans Park Homepage	Printable Rosters	2016 Champions: Bloomsburg
		Champion Scholar: Courtney Sinclair, California

 
Tournament MVP: West Chester's Amanda Houck












CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAP
Courtesy of West Chester Sports Information
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – Cat Hammer hit a three-run home run, and West Chester rode the left arm of junior hurler Amanda Houck to its first softball conference title in school history with a 6-0 victory over Bloomsburg in the 2017 PSAC Championship Game at Veteran's Park Saturday night.
 
West Chester (44-10) scored twice in the first and then added Hammer's three-run blast in the third to jump out in front 5-0. The Golden Rams later tacked on another run in the fourth for the final count against Bloomsburg (31-18). With the win, West Chester earns the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, which begins next weekend.
 
Houck (31-3) was named the most valuable player for her part in the tournament. She won all four games inside the circle for the Golden Rams, allowing just four runs in 26 innings of work, pitching West Chester to the title. Saturday, she threw a complete-game shutout in the championship game, scattering three hits over six innings while walking two and striking out three.

"I don't think it has sunk in yet," Houck said afterwards. "It's all kind a surreal right now.

"I just really tried to keep them off balance and let my defense play behind me. At this point in the season, everybody (in the PSAC) has seen me before. So, they all know what I'm throwing. I was just trying to get ground ball outs."

West Chester jumped on top early when leadoff hitter, Madison Kelly walked and was bunted over to second by Sarah Walasavage. Alyssa Herion then singled up the middle, and Kelly raced around and scored, beating the throw home. Herion moved up to third on a fielding error by Bloomsburg's third baseman, and then came in to score on a passed ball to give the Rams a 2-0 lead right out of the gate.

In the third, Walasavage singled and stole second, before Herion drew a walk to put runners on first and second with one out. That's when Hammer stepped to the plate and hit a line drive over the center field fence for her seventh home run of the season.

In the fourth, Micaela McSpadden led off the frame with a walk. Monica Twardowski was inserted to pinch run and moved up to second on the ensuing bunt from Emily Maseth. Twardowski moved up to third on a ground out, and then Walasavage doubled down the left field line to plate Twardowski with the sixth run of the game.

From there, head coach Diane Lokey, turned things over to her lefty ace.

"(Houck) was a trooper all week long," Lokey said. "She didn't have the high strikeout games, like she had all year, but she got the ground balls, and our defense played great behind her. Last year, at NCAAs, the game was too fast for us. I think today you saw our maturity one year later. I kept telling them, 'Keep the game slow. Keep the game slow.'"

For Lokey, in her 14th year coaching the Golden Rams, the school's first PSAC championship was a long-time coming. But, in the end, it was well worth the wait for a program that did not qualify for the conference tournament at all before 2010.

"It's just a really great feeling," Lokey explained. "We took our lumps in the PSAC East for years in the beginning. It was exciting to see so many alums in the stands. I didn't know they were here during the game. But, they are as much a part of this as the team. They are the ones who helped get us to where we are at now as a program."

Houck's 31st win of the season sets a new standard in the PSAC for wins in a single season by a left-handed pitcher, topping former Kutztown southpaw Samantha Derr's mark of 30 wins in 2012.

West Chester will find out where it goes, and who it plays, during the NCAA Division II Softball Tournament Selection Show on Monday, May 8 at 10 a.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- The 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Softball Championship field is set following the conclusion of the regular season Sunday, the league announced.
 
The tournament will take place in Quakertown, Pa. at Veterans park and will start May 3 at 12 p.m. and will run through May 6 and will consist of nine teams.
 
The tournament is in a double-elimination format with the top three teams from the Central, West and East division.
 
In the East, West Chester claimed the No. 1 seed while Kutztown grabbed No. 2 and Shippensburg earned the No. 3 slot.
 
Bloomsburg earned the No. 1 seed in the Central while Lock Haven and IUP snagged No. 2 and 3, respectively.
 
Gannon claimed the No. 1 seed in the West while Seton Hill earned No. 2 and California grabbed No. 3.
 
BU won the title in 2016 and boasts a league-high 16 titles in the tournament. California is second with eight while LHU is third with five.