QUAKERTOWN, Pa. -- The Shippensburg University softball team began its run at the 2023 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament on Wednesday with a victory in comeback fashion, scoring five times in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat West No. 5 seed Gannon, 6-2, in a 10 a.m. game from soggy Veterans Park.
 
Shippensburg (28-18) was unable to solve Gannon (18-27) starter Maggie Lenda its first time through the order, managing just a lone single by freshman Caitlyn Martell heading into the fourth inning. The Golden Knights held an early 1-0 lead after Lily Gfeller sent a hanging riseball over the left-field fence in the second inning.
 
SU tied it in the fourth when graduate Hannah Marsteller hit a one-out double to right field and then junior Morgan Lindsay immediately singled her home.
 
Gannon answered in the top of the fifth with a two-out RBI single, as Jules Ryan fouled off several pitches before coming back and hitting a ball up the middle to plate the go-ahead run.
 
The Raider rally in the sixth began with a walk to Marsteller, but she was soon dispatched in an attempted caught stealing as she was trying to advance on a ball in the dirt. With one out, Lindsay then crushed a changeup over the left-field fence to even the score 2-2.
 
SU kept the foot on the gas. Junior Alyssa Nehlen added to her school record for career hit-by-pitches, as she was hit for the 11th time this season (29th time in her career). Freshman Kaira Zamadics followed with a four-pitch walk, and freshman Emilee Sullivan hit a ball into the hole that the shortstop fielded but could not complete the throw – loading the bases.
 
Then, in the biggest moment of the game, junior Maelynn Leber stepped into the batter's box as a pinch hitter. It was Leber's first at-bat in nearly a month, dating back to April 4 at West Chester, and she came through with a huge two-run single to right field that made it a 4-2 lead for the Raiders.
 
With two outs, and runners on second and third, junior Taylor Myers gave the Raiders some insurance with her first extra-base hit of the season – a two-run double into left-center field.
 
It proved to be more than enough cushion for senior relief pitcher Emma Flattery, who earned the win out of the bullpen. Flattery pitched the final 2.1 innings, allowing just a lone single and two walks while striking out two.
 
Zamadics was excellent in her first tournament start, scattering two runs on four hits in 4.2 innings while walking two and striking out five. It is the fifth time in her last six appearances that Zamadics recorded five or more strikeouts.
 
Myers and Lindsay each finished with two hits for the Raiders.
 
Shippensburg will play again at 3 p.m. versus Seton Hill. The loser of that game will have to come back and play an elimination game at 5:30 p.m. against either West Chester or Bloomsburg.