Gallery: (5-11-2024) 2024 NCAA Softball Regional at ESU
STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team scored three times in the bottom of the second inning Saturday and never trailed as it eliminated host No. 16 East Stroudsburg, 6-1, in NCAA Atlantic Regional competition at Creekview Park.
Shippensburg (35-20) picked up its fourth win in five contests this season against regional top seed East Stroudsburg (46-17), who was stunned earlier in the day after a 10th-inning home run by Kutztown advanced the Golden Bears to the championship finals with a 1-0 victory.
In the afternoon elimination game, sophomore
Emilee Sullivan and graduate
Alyssa Nehlen delivered RBI-singles to put the Raiders on the board, and a third run scored on a botched play at the plate during a caught stealing.
It proved to be more than enough run support for junior
Alicia Ball, who delivered her best start since the end of the regular season. Ball retired the final 11 hitters she faced en route to her 20th complete game of the season. She improved her record to 20-6 on the season by scattering four hits, walking just one, and striking out nine – two off a season high.
The score was 3-1 after three, but SU was able to tack on insurance runs with two-out hitting. Senior
Taylor Myers singled home a run with two outs in the fourth. With two outs and no one on in the sixth, back-to-back singles by Nehlen and Myers prefaced a two-run single up the middle by sophomore
Caitlyn Martell.
The Raiders finished the game with 12 hits – once again, all singles. Martell was 3-for-4, while Nehlen, Myers and senior
Morgan Lindsay each had two hits. SU did not strike out in the game against ESU pitcher Paige Zigmund.
Shippensburg advances to face Kutztown at 11 a.m. Sunday. If SU wins, the two teams will play again immediately after to decide who will advance to face No. 3 seed Charleston in Super Regionals.
