SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team played two close games Sunday with Shepherd, the current top team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division, but the Raiders dropped both to the Rams by scores of 5-2 and 5-4 at Robb Field.
 
Shippensburg (4-8, 3-7 PSAC East) totaled 10 hits and drew seven walks in Sunday's doubleheader and got strong pitching from freshman Brianna Small. Small started Game 1 and worked in relief in Game 2, totaling nine innings, yielding three runs (two earned) and striking out six. She allowed six hits and walked three, holding the Rams to a .188 opponent batting average.
 
Hannah Marsteller had three hits, including an RBI-triple and an RBI-single. Freshman Maelynn Leber hit a solo home run in both games. Taylor Radziewicz had two hits (including a double) and a walk.
 
Despite not having a hit, Lacey Hunter drew three walks, stole two bases, and made a pair of excellent defensive plays.
 
Shepherd (14-1, 10-0) capitalized on timely hits and had a big inning in each game to take the doubleheader. Hannah Beeler had four hits (two in each game). Ram pitchers only struck out four batters but stranded 13 runners on base.

Game 1: Shepherd 5, Shippensburg 2
 
The only run of the first five innings was plated in the third inning by Shippensburg on an RBI-single by Marsteller. Walks by Morgan DeFeo and Alyssa Nehlen set up the run-scoring single.
 
Small held Shepherd hitless through the first four innings but did have to strand five batters in that span (three walks, two hit batters). She stranded two more runners in the fifth.
 
The sixth inning was the decisive frame, as Shepherd scored all five of its runs in the inning. The Rams had three straight singles to start the inning, scoring two runs (one on a wild pitch) and chasing Small in favor of Leber. With the bases loaded and one out, Shepherd plated runs on a passed ball, RBI-groundout and an RBI-single.
 
Leber hit a solo home run in the sixth for the game's final run.
 
Game 2: Shepherd 5, Shippensburg 4
 
Shepherd established an early 5-0 lead, scoring single runs in the first and second before a three-run home run in the third by Tori Seymour. Tressa Kagarise started and threw innings, recording one walk and one strikeout. Small pitched four shutout innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out three without walking a batter.
 
The Raiders scratched and clawed their way back. Two runs crossed the plate in the third on an RBI-triple by Marsteller and an RBI-single by Radziewicz. Leber led off the fourth with a home run, making it 5-3.
 
Shippensburg got the tying run on base in the seventh. Hunter walked to lead off the inning, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout by DeFeo. Freshman Taylor Myers hit her second single of the game following the DeFeo groundout but was later thrown out trying to steal to end the game.
 
Hunter made two noteworthy defensive plays. In the first at-bat after she shifted from catcher to left field due to an injury to another player, Hunter made a running catch and crashed into the outfield fence to record an out. Later, she registered an outfield assist with a strong throw that retired a runner trying to stretch a double into a triple.
 
Up Next
 
Shippensburg travels to Bloomsburg on Tuesday for a doubleheader with the Huskies at Jan Hutchinson Field.
 

Photos from Sunday's home Shippensburg University Softball doubleheader against Shepherd. A hard-fought doubleheader that was claimed by the Rams.

📸: Bill Smith/Shippensburg University
Posted by Shippensburg University Athletics on Sunday, March 21, 2021