QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team opened the scoring against Lock Haven on Wednesday in its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships opener, but the Raiders could not hold on in dropping a 5-2 decision to the Bald Eagles at Veterans Park.
 
Shippensburg (24-21) plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a bloop-double by freshman Grace Palmieri, but Lock Haven (28-16-1) answered with back-to-back home runs in the top of the fifth – the first of which was a three-run shot, to gain a lead it would not relinquish. The Bald Eagles also plated an unearned run in the top of the seventh.
 
Wednesday's game was a re-match of the PSAC's leaders in strikeouts: LHU's Bekah Slattery and SU senior Taryn Wilson. Wilson was chased in the fifth after allowing the home runs; she finished the game with three strikeouts over 4.1 innings. Slattery yielded just three hits and a walk while striking out 10.
 
Freshman Tressa Kagarise worked 2.2 innings of relief, striking out four and allowing one unearned run, one walk and one hit.
 
Junior Kayla Bonawitz doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth; she and sophomore Courtney Coy scored on Palmieri's double. Freshman Morgan DeFeo sliced an opposite-field single in the sixth.
 
Shippensburg got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an error and a walk drawn by junior Meghan Klee but ultimately could not solve Slattery; who struck out the side in the final inning.
 
SU enters Thursday in need of victories to maintain its footing in the regional rankings that were released earlier in the day. The Raiders will play Edinboro in an elimination game at 9 a.m.