Softball | 4/10/2014 7:42:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Shippensburg University softball team shutout Kutztown 2-0 in the opener of its Thursday afternoon road doubleheader and nearly completed the sweep in the nightcap but its late rally from a six-run deficit fell just short in a 9-8 loss for a twinbill split from KU's North Campus Field.
 
Senior Emily Estep (13-1) pitched the Raiders (22-6, 8-4 PSAC East) to a shutout of the 2013 national runner-up Golden Bears (14-17, 6-6) on a two-hit, complete-game victory with five strikeouts in Game 1, which remained scoreless until SU scored the game's lone runs in the top of the sixth inning.
 
Junior shortstop Taylor Weisman – who batted 4-for-7 with four RBIs and a pair of runs scored on the day – knocked in a run with a single to center field on a full-count pitch before junior designated player Jessie Trammell recorded an RBI groundout.
 
Trammell recorded her second and third RBIs of the day in the second (groundout) and fourth (single up the middle) innings of Game 2, but Shippensburg faced an 8-2 deficit heading into the fifth.
 
SU scored four in the fifth, beginning with an RBI bunt single by senior left fielder Hilary Lyons to score junior center fielder Tyler Thompson from third (lead-off bunt single, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout).
 
Two batters later and with two outs, sophomore second baseman Taylor Pattillo – who was 3-for-4 in the game with three runs scored – reached on a fielding error by the KU shortstop to put runners at the corners for Weisman. The junior made the most of her team's extra out as she hit a three-run home run to left-center on the second pitch she faced to trim the Golden Bear lead to 8-6.
 
The teams exchanged runs in the sixth with an RBI single to center in the top of the frame courtesy of sophomore right fielder Briana Giovenco, before SU loaded the bases with three consecutive singles to start the seventh.
 
Junior Liz Parkins – who pitched the final 2.1 innings in relief and gave up one run off two hits with two strikeouts – cut the deficit to 9-8 with a run-scoring groundout to first base. Trammell followed with a walk to re-load the bases with one out, but KU starter Dominique Ficara struck out the next two batters looking to end the game, including battling back from a 3-1 count with back-to-back looking strikes in the game's final at-bat.
 
The teams wrap up the four-game weekend series tomorrow with a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader from Robb Field.