SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team collected 24 hits on Friday as it achieved a split of its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader with front-running West Chester. SU won Game 2, 6-1, after falling in Game 1, 10-7, on a cloudy, chilly and windy day at Robb Field.
 
Shippensburg (15-9, 4-2 PSAC East) scored at least six runs in both games against West Chester (20-9, 5-1) – a feat that the Golden Rams had allowed just five times through the first 27 games of the season. SU hit .369 as a team (24-for-65), scored 13 runs, and had five extra-base hits.
 
For the second straight day, sophomore Meghan Klee maintained a hot bat at the plate. Klee reached base five times in the doubleheader, finishing the day 3-for-5 with a double, sacrifice fly, three RBIs, three runs, two stolen bases and a pair of walks. Through six conference games this season, Klee has reached base in 11-of-19 plate appearances (.550 on-base percentage).
 
Senior Chloe Collins was 4-for-8 on the day – including three hits in the nightcap. Collins had a double, an RBI, two steals and two runs scored. Fellow senior Tara Bicko was also 4-for-8 at the plate – she tripled and scored four runs on the day.
 
Sophomore Micaela Ghanayem returned to action with three singles and a walk. Fellow sophomore Kayla Bonawitz had a double, RBI and three runs scored.
 
Seniors Anna Warfield and Macy Luck each had two hits – Warfield tripled and scored, while Luck had a sacrifice and an RBI.
 
Freshman Courtney Coy had a pair of big hits on the day – totaling three RBIs – and made her third appearance of the season in the circle. In Game 1, Coy threw five innings of relief, striking out two.
 
Junior Taryn Wilson was marvelous in the circle – throwing 8.1 innings on the day between the two games of the doubleheader. Wilson threw a complete game to win Game 2, scattering a run on four hits while striking out eight. In Game 1, she threw 1.1 innings of relief after replacing Collins, who started the opener.
 
Overall on the season, Wilson is now 12-5 with 121 strikeouts in 102 innings of work.
 
Shippensburg hosts Shepherd at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday from Robb Field.
 
Game 1: WCU 10, SHIP 7
West Chester raced out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning, but SU scored three times in the third inning after a bases-loaded walk by Klee and a two-run single by Coy.
 
WCU immediately answered with three runs in the fourth, but the Raiders again made it close after scoring three runs in the fifth – aided by a Golden Ram passed ball and a pair of errors.
 
The visitors got three more runs in the sixth, with only remaining Raider run coming on a sacrifice fly by Klee in the bottom half of the frame. WCU catcher Cat Hammer was 4-for-5 with four RBIs to propel the Golden Rams to victory.
 
Game 2: SHIP 6, WCU 1
After a first-inning RBI double by WCU's Alyssa Herion, the Raiders scored three times in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Bicko tripled and Bonawitz doubled her home to lead off the game. Klee doubled home Bonawitz before Luck later delivered an RBI-single.
 
Collins singled home Bicko in the second to make it 4-1 Raiders – Bicko singled up the middle and advanced to third on the play after the ball rolled through the center fielder's legs and toward the wall. SU added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth with a run on an error and a Coy RBI-single.