MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team strung together five consecutive singles during a three-run rally in the top of the seventh inning of Thursday's second game before freshman Emily Estep struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to finish a 5-4 win that allowed SU to salvage a split with Millersville and clinch the PSAC Eastern Division championship.

Shippensburg (25-11, 11-3 PSAC East) can only be caught in the win-loss column by Kutztown, but the Raiders took three of four games over the Golden Bears to win the season series. If SU were to lose its two remaining games and Kutztown were to win both, the Raiders would still hold the tiebreaker.

Trailing 4-2 entering its final at-bat, Shippensburg seniors Dana Ward, Moira Johnsen and Hope Cornell all reached base on singles to load the bases with no outs.

Senior Courtney Steele kept the station-to-station game going with a single that scored Ward. Estep then stepped up with a single that plated freshman pinch runner Hilary Lyons to tie the score at 4-4.

After a popout, junior Meg Lehman delivered a sacrifice fly to center field that plated Cornell to give Shippensburg the lead. Estep didn't allow the ball to be put into play in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the victory and improve her record to 14-2 for the season.

Steele had two doubles in the first game on Thursday and finished the doubleheader with four hits and three RBIs while reaching base in six of her eight plate appearances (including all four at-bats in the nightcap.) She has had at least one hit in 18 of the last 20 games and is hitting .394 for the season.

Ward was 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice in the opening game and finished the doubleheader with three hits and three runs scored. She is in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak.

Senior Jill Mullan was outstanding in the second game, going 3-for-4 with a double. She also had a hit and a walk in the opener;finishing the doubleheader with four hits. Johnsen had a hit in each game and was 3-for-8 at the plate.

Estep had been hitless in her last 19 at-bats before a single in the fifth inning of the second game. From the circle, Estep struck out five of the last six batters she faced to finish with nine punchouts. She has struck out at least eight batters in all seven of her PSAC Eastern Division starts.

In the first game, Shippensburg plated a run in the sixth on a fielder's choice by freshman Marygrace Serra and another in the seventh on an RBI-double by Steele. With two outs, Steele reached third base on a wild pitch but was ultimately stranded.

Tomorrow, Shippensburg will travel to East Stroudsburg for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader with the Warriors.