SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Senior left fielder Hilary Lyons came up heroic in the Shippensburg University softball team's PSAC East Monday doubleheader sweep of Kutztown with a pair of walk-off singles – a bases-loaded shot up the middle in the ninth inning of Game 1 and a dropper to left field in the seventh of Game 2 – as the Raiders posted 1-0 and 4-3 victories from a windy Robb Field to win the season series 3-1 vs. the 2013 national runner-up Golden Bears.
 
Despite each team battling severe wind gusts blowing in toward the field of play throughout both games, the Raiders (24-8, 10-6 PSAC East) managed 21 hits on the day – including 13 in Game 1 – and received strong outings from starting pitchers Liz Parkins and Emily Estep.
 
Parkins recorded her first shutout of the season with a complete-game effort in the opener; the nine-inning outing matches the longest of her career. The junior gave up five hits, did not allow a walk and struck out a season-high eight in a 107-pitch performance as she did not allow a hit after the fifth inning.
 
Estep earned the complete-game victory in Game 2 with a six-strikeout, six-hit effort on 129 pitches.
 
Junior center fielder Tyler Thompson batted 5-for-7 on the day while sophomore right fielder Briana Giovenco was 4-for-7, including a 3-for-5 line in Game 1. Junior first baseman Maddie Justice collected three hits while Lyons, freshman third baseman Jenny Peel and junior designated player Jessie Trammell each recorded two hits.
 
With one out in the bottom of the ninth of a still-scoreless Game 1, Peel singled to left-center, Thompson singled on a bunt to the catcher and Giovenco singled through the left side to load the bases for Lyons, who connected on an 0-2 pitch to bring home the winning run.
 
After a Kutztown run in the top of the first opened Game 2, junior shortstop Taylor Weisman tripled to right with one out in the bottom of the second before Trammell drove her home with a groundout to second to tie the game at 1-1.
 
SU took the lead in the next inning with some heads-up base running. With one out and runners on second and third, Lyons reached on a fielder's choice as the KU second baseman threw home to get the lead runner out. Lyons then took second base, allowing Thompson – who advanced from second on the fielder's choice – to score from third and put SU ahead 2-1. The Raiders then added an insurance run in the fifth with a Justice RBI single down the right-field line.
 
Down to its final two outs just five pitches into the top of the seventh, Kutztown rattled off three straight hits, capped off by a game-tying two-run double to left-center by leadoff hitter Jackie Hetzler to knot the score at 3-3.
 
Thompson led off the bottom of the seventh by beating out a bunt to third base before advancing to second on a Giovenco sacrifice bunt. Lyons then smacked the second pitch she saw to left for her second walk-off hit of the day.
 
Shippensburg's Tuesday doubleheader at Bloomsburg has been postponed to a future date. The Raiders are next scheduled to play this Friday with a 2:30 p.m. road doubleheader at East Stroudsburg.