Game 1
Game 2

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - After suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 extra-inning loss to West Chester in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader, the Lady Raider bats awoke in Game 2 as freshmen Hope Cornell and Courtney Steele slugged home runs to help the Shippensburg softball team earn a doubleheader split with West Chester at Robb Field.

Shippensburg (22-16, 5-5 PSAC East) won the second game 8-4 and remained tied for third place in the PSAC Eastern Division with West Chester (24-11, 5-5 PSAC East). East Stroudsburg (11-20, 5-7 PSAC East) split a doubleheader with Millersville on Tuesday and remains in fifth place in the seven-team division.

Despite the two teams scraping across two runs a-piece in the first four innings of Game 1 the contest evolved into an offensive struggle by the late innings.

Shippensburg plated a run in the second inning after senior Amanda Bardo tripled and scored on a wild pitch, and later chased West Chester starter Ashley Saussaman with a lead-off single from Cornell in the third. Cornell eventually got to third base via two wild pitches from reliever Megan Graham and scored on an exquisite squeeze bunt from Bardo that gave the Lady Raiders a 2-0 lead.

Junior Lori Knopf started for the Lady Raiders but ran into trouble in the top of the fourth as a single and a walk led to runners on second and third with one out. Catcher Katie Kmiencinski delivered a shot into the right-center field gap for a double that scored both runners and tied the score at 2-2.

Both teams brought their aces into the game in the late innings that neutralized the offense for several innings. Senior Dani Shields entered the game in the sixth inning and West Chester countered with Shannon Padula in the fifth and the two pitchers combined to strike out five in their seven innings of work.

West Chester earned the victory in Game 1 with a two-out rally in the eighth as Jackie DiPaola singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and then scored on a single from Meghan Halberstadt.

The Golden Rams also raced out to a 3-0 lead in Game 2 against senior Jill Kirby. West Chester plated three runs in the opening inning due to a throwing error from Kirby and RBIs from Erin MacNamee and Alisha Dimarzio.

Shippensburg's bats woke up after eight scoreless innings with four runs in the fourth and the fifth to take control of the game. The rally started in the fourth when senior Sarah Stengl singled and Cornell immediately followed by launching a ball over the left-field fence to bring the score to 3-2.

Knopf reached on a fielding error and sophomore Lisamarie Ramagli singled to put runners on first and third. Steele singled to score the pinch-runner, sophomore Oceanna Debaro, and freshman Jill Mullan delivered another single but Ramagli was gunned down at the plate for the second out.

With runners remaining on second and third, junior Rachelle Wedell came through with a clutch single into left field that scored Steele and gave Shippensburg a 4-3 lead. The inning chased West Chester's Padula, who allowed seven hits and four runs in Game 2 after relinquishing just one hit through four innings of the opener.

A triple from MacNamee tied the game in the top of the fifth but the Lady Raiders came through in the fifth against the reliever Graham to earn the victory. A single from Cornell and a walk from Bardo eventually led to an RBI-single from Ramagli that scored Cornell. On the play, a fielding error by the left fielder allowed Bardo to score all the way from first.

Steele then parked a ball over the left-field fence that brought the game to its final margin, 8-4.

Freshman Dana Ward entered in relief of Kirby and earned her second victory of the season by pitching four innings of relief. She allowed just three hits and an earned run with one strikeout.

Shippensburg will look to bolster its standing in the PSAC East when it takes on seventh-place Mansfield in a doubleheader at Robb Field on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.