2021 PSAC Softball Tournament set to begin Wednesday
PSAC Softball Tournament Hub
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- The 2021 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Softball tournament will begin Wednesday, May 5 with the quarterfinal series in the East and the West. Representing the Eastern Division will be No. 1 Kutztown University, No. 2 Shepherd University, No. 3 West Chester University and No. 4 East Stroudsburg University. In the West, the top four teams are No. 1 Seton Hill University, No. 2. Gannon University, No. 3 California University of Pennsylvania and No. 4 Mercyhurst University.
This season, there were changes made to the format of the PSAC Softball Tournament. The top four teams in each division make the tournament and matchups between the teams will be within the division until the championship series. The host institutions for the quarterfinals and the semifinals will be the higher seed, while the championship host site will be the representative from the east division. Every series will be a best of three series.
Over in the West, second-ranked Gannon (23-9 PSAC) will host third-ranked California (19-8 PSAC) Wednesday. The Golden Knights are led by a trio of hitters coming in batting over .300 including Maria Taliani (.374), Kaity Stocker (.339) and Kristina DeMatteis (.308). In the circle, Rebecca Tatone and Kennedy DeMatteis have been solid this year carrying ERA’s under 3.00. DeMatteis is fifth in the PSAC in strikeouts with 97. California’s Shayna Postler and Britney Wilson are both hitting above .350 and have combined for 34 RBIs while Paige Wilson has been the team leader in driving in runs with 27.
Top-seeded Seton Hill (25-7 PSAC) will host fourth-ranked Mercyhurst Wednesday. Jenna Osikowicz for the Griffins is the team’s top hitter batting .390 and carrying a 1.052 OPS while Christiana Skraback has been impressive as well leading the team in home runs (8) and RBIs (25). In the circle, Logan Hartman has been arguably the best hurler in the West recording an 11-0 record tallying a 1.15 ERA (11 ER in 67.0 IP) and holding opponents to hit just .177. Mercyhurst (16-16) took 3-of-4 from Slippery Rock to punch its ticket into the tournament. The Lakers’ Madison Fry has one of the top batting averages in the West hitting .417 (50-for-120). Hurst’s top pitcher is Mikaela Schramski who has 7 complete games and 60 punchouts this year.
Second-seeded Shepherd (20-8 PSAC) will host West Chester (20-12 PSAC) Wednesday in the East. The Rams have one of the top hitters in the region in Nicole Purtell who is batting .473 with 52 hits in 110 at-bats. She was 20-for-21 in stolen-base attempts and had 82 total bases. In the circle, Hannah Ruffner had a team-best 2.56 ERA in 10 appearances including five starts. As for WCU, the Golden Rams swept Shippensburg to punch its ticket into tournament and comes in having won six straight. They are led by Bri Garber, who is batting .448 (56-for-125). Garber in her last contests, became one of just two players in PSAC history with 300-plus hits in her career. Jen Hanshaw will likely be in the circle in the tournament. She hurled over 100.0 innings this season and tallied 58 punchouts for WCU.
Kutztown (23-9) is well-rested having finished the season before anyone in the division. KU will host fourth-ranked East Stroudsburg (17-11 PSAC). Kutztown’s Jenna Lipowski is the team-leader in most offensive categories. She’s batting .426 (46-for-108) with 12 HRs and 43 RBIs. Kutztown’s Bridget Bailey will look to carry a lot of the pitching load in the tournament. She was 10-1 with a 2.37 ERA (26 ER in 76.2 IP) and 49 strikeouts. All three of Kutztown’s hurlers had at least 49 strikeouts during the season. As for the Warriors, they have not played since April 27. As a team, they hit an impressive .314 (323-for-1030) and were led by Molly Nies who hit .403 (52-for-129). They also had three pitchers who carried ERA’s under 3.00 including Marah Range who was 14-4 with a 2.75 ERA (43 ER in 109.1 IP) with 11 complete games and 103 strikeouts, tied for second-best in the PSAC.
Following the conclusion of the first-round games, the semifinal matchups will occur Sunday-Monday, May 9-10 and will also be best-of-three series.
Each quarterfinal series will begin Wednesday at 1 p.m. Spectators will be allowed to watch PSAC tournament games in accordance with each host team’s spectator policy.
ABOUT THE PSAC
Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg University, California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University, East Stroudsburg University, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University, Lock Haven University, Mansfield University, Mercyhurst University, Millersville University, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Seton Hill University, Shepherd University, Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University.