The Shippensburg University softball team opened the 2021 season Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader split at Seton Hill, a team picked second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
The Raiders won Game 1, 8-5, while the Griffins won Game 2 by a 3-2 score.
 
Shippensburg (1-1) totaled 15 hits, including six that went for extra bases, and drew nine walks on the day. Raider pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
 
Seton Hill (1-1) had 16 hits of its own, including six that went for extra bases, and three stolen bases.
 
Five Raiders had multiple hits in the doubleheader, with Taylor Radziewicz and Alyssa Nehlen each recording three. Radziewicz had an RBI double in Game 1 and scored three runs.
 
Sophomore Hannah Marsteller homered in both games of the doubleheader, including a pivotal grand slam in Game 1. She reached base four times overall, including two walks (one intentional), and finished the day with five RBIs.
 
In just one day, Marsteller equaled her home run output of last year's 14-game season. She now has 14 homers through 60 career games.
 
Sophomore Tressa Kagarise got the Game 1 win, totaling six innings. She exited with two outs in the fourth inning and re-entered with two outs in the fifth inning. Kagarise totaled 10 strikeouts – the third double-digit strikeout performance of her career.
 
Freshman Maelynn Leber made her collegiate debut in Game 2 and threw a complete game from the circle, striking out three over six innings of work.
 
Game 1 (SHIP 8, SHU 5):
The two teams combined to throw 291 pitches and draw 11 walks in Game 1. Shippensburg exhibited patience and battled at the plate, drawing 10 full counts and reaching base in eight of those plate appearances.
 
The Raiders scored at least one run in four straight innings, beginning in the second. SU loaded the bases with one out on a single by Radziewicz, a first-pitch double by Grace Palmieri and a full-count walk by sophomore Lacey Hunter. After a strikeout, freshman Taylor Myers worked a full-count walk on seven pitches in her first collegiate plate appearance that plated a run.
 
SU scored four runs with two outs in Game 1, including two in the third. Marsteller worked a full count and drew a walk before Radziewicz's aforementioned RBI-double came on a 3-2 pitch. In the third straight full count of the inning, Palmieri hit an RBI single to plate Radziewicz.
 
Marsteller's grand slam came with one out in the fourth inning, plating Myers (infield single), sophomore Morgan DeFeo (single) and junior Courtney Coy (seven-pitch walk). In the fifth, Coy hit a two-out double that scored DeFeo (six-pitch walk).
 
Seton Hill trailed 8-2 entering the bottom of the fifth inning but hit a two-run home run in the frame and eventually got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Kagarise recorded her 10th and final strikeout to seal the win.
 
Freshman Emma Flattery made her collegiate pitching debut and helped the Raiders escape a jam in the bottom of the fourth. With two runners in scoring position, Flattery struck out the first collegiate batter she faced on three pitches to end the Griffin threat.
 
In the fifth, Kagarise re-entered and got a strikeout to end another threat after Flattery yielded a two-run home run and a single with two outs. The Raiders threw out a runner at the plate in the at-bat before the home run with a successful relay by Nehlen (right field), Marsteller (first base) and Hunter (catcher).
 
Hunter, making her first collegiate start at catcher, drew a career-high three walks. Palmieri had two hits.
 
Game 2 (SHU 3, SHIP 2):
 
The fourth inning was the decisive frame, with both teams scoring twice in the inning. The only other run to cross the plate came on an RBI-single in the third inning.
 
Shippensburg took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning behind a solo home run from Marsteller and an RBI-triple by freshman Bridget Sharkey, who had entered the game earlier as a pinch runner and remained as the right fielder. Sharkey tripled on the seventh pitch of her at-bat to plate Radziewicz.
 
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Seton Hill got an RBI-triple of its own from Natalia Greco, who then scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
 
Leber needed just 87 pitches to complete the game. She yielded five hits and three walks while striking out three. Nehlen went 3-for-4 at the plate after being held without a hit in Game 1. The Raiders struck out nine times after fanning just once in the opener.
 
Up Next:
 
Shippensburg is scheduled to host Bloomsburg at 2 p.m. Friday in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division opener from Robb Field.