Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The No. 20 Shippensburg University softball team suffered a pair of extra-inning losses to West Chester on a chilly Sunday afternoon, falling 4-2 in 10 innings and 8-4 in eight innings to the Golden Rams at Robb Field.

Shippensburg (25-8, 7-3 PSAC East) lost back-to-back games for the first time all season – with four of the team's eight losses now having come in extra innings. West Chester (29-16, 6-6 PSAC East), ranked No. 5 in the Atlantic Region, finished its weekend with a split against No. 8 California (Pa.) and a sweep of No. 20 Shippensburg – the top two teams in the regional rankings.

Game 1 was predominantly a battle in the circle between SU junior Emily Estep and WCU senior Devon Utterback. The two pitchers each threw 10-inning complete games, combining to throw 337 pitches and striking out 17 batters.

A third-inning double by sophomore Jessie Trammell and a fifth-inning single by sophomore Tyler Thompson had the Raiders up 2-1 in the opener before Jillian Murray tied it in the sixth with a home run off an 0-2 pitch.

Neither team would score again until the international tiebreaker rules kicked in for the 10th inning. WCU scored twice, plating the first run on a bloop single and manufacturing the second with a bunt, throwing error and sacrifice fly. SU did not score in the bottom of the 10th.

The Raiders had two solid scoring chances in the opener but could not convert. Sophomore Taylor Weisman led off the bottom of the second inning with a triple that rolled into the right-field corner, but she was stranded at third base. Juniors Hilary Lyons and Kirstin McClune both reached base to start the bottom of the seventh inning but neither were able to make their way home.

The score was 1-0 through five innings in Game 2 before a cavalcade of runs was produced in the final three innings. Despite the back-and-forth battle, SU was one out away from a win but could not seal the victory.

West Chester, despite having its first two hitters retired in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, scored eight runs over the final three frames off SU sophomore Makenzie Lynn.

With the score 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, SU took the lead on a one-out double into the right-center field gap off the bat of Weisman that scored freshman pinch runner Julie Cramer from first base in a close play at the plate.

Two batters later, McClune entered in the middle of the at-bat of sophomore Emmie Burke, who was injured on a swing. With a 2-2 count, McClune sent the first pitch she saw slowly toward second base and beat it out for an RBI-single.

The seventh inning provided even more drama. The Golden Rams, down to their last strike, staved off defeat after Ali Vavala was ruled to have beaten out an infield single. The next batter doubled home Vavala, and after a walk, JP Norris doubled into the left-center field gap to plate two more and give WCU a 4-3 lead.

SU tied the game in the seventh off a two-out rally of its own. Senior Kiersten Darhower dropped a bunt that fell just in front of the pitcher's outstretched glove to reach for a single. After Darhower stole second, Thompson laced a pitch through the right side of the infield that plated Darhower to tie the game at 4-4.

The Golden Rams broke the game open in the eighth as a result of five two-out hits (including two doubles) with a walk sandwiched in the middle. Utterback, who entered Game 2 as a reliever in the sixth inning, ended up with the win in both games.

Overall, Weisman had three hits in Sunday's doubleheader – two doubles and a triple. Lyons and Thompson also had three hits between the two games, while Darhower, Trammell and McClune had hits in each game.

Shippensburg will travel to Kutztown on Tuesday for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader against the Golden Bears.

Notes: Amazingly, 14 of the 18 runs that were scored in Sunday's doubleheader came with two outs (SU – 4 of 6, WCU – 10 of 12)…Utterback finished the day throwing 208 pitches for the Golden Rams spanning 12.2 innings of work…Lynn had allowed just 10 earned runs all season but was charged with eight on Sunday…Estep had yielded just three earned runs in her last 65.2 innings entering Sunday…SU's 10-inning game was its first since a 4-3 win over Northwood last season at the Rebel Spring Games (March 12, 2012).