QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – The Shippensburg University softball team was eliminated from the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships on a sunny and humid Thursday at Veterans Park after a wild 13-11 loss to East No. 2 seed Kutztown and later a 10-5 loss to West No. 2 seed Seton Hill.
 
Shippensburg (33-19) now awaits the NCAA Division II Selection Show, scheduled for Monday morning, to see if it qualifies for the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament for the third straight year.
 
SU totaled 24 hits on the day, going for double-digit hits in both games.
 
Senior Taylor Myers led the team by going 7-for-10 at the plate, and in the process breaking the all-time school record for career hits with 286. The previous record was Hannah Marsteller's 282 career hits. Myers added three RBI and four runs.
 
Graduate Alyssa Nehlen and first-year Emily Lafferty each totaled three hits, including three runs for Nehlen. Lafferty had her fourth multi-hit game of the season with two hits against Seton Hill.
 
Senior Morgan Lindsay had two hits and five RBI against Kutztown, including her three-run home run that tied the game up at 10-10 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore Caitlyn Martell had a hit in each game, including an RBI-single against Seton Hill.
 
Junior Katelyn Minney, sophomore Emilee Sullivan and freshman Brie Wilmot each had a hit in both games. Sullivan had an important RBI-triple in the bottom of the sixth against KU to give the Raiders the 11-10 lead heading into the seventh inning. Minney added three RBI, while Wilmot drew a team-high three walks on the day.
 
In the circle, junior Alicia Ball started the game against Kutztown, throwing only 1.1 innings with a strikeout. Freshman Madalyn Dyer entered in the top of the second inning and threw 15 pitches before senior Maelynn Leber came in as a relief pitcher. Leber threw 2.1 innings before she was relieved by sophomore Kaira Zamadics (Allentown, Pa./Northampton Area), who threw 2.2 innings and allowed five hits.
 
In the Seton Hill game, Zamadics started and threw 1.1 innings with a strikeout before Leber and Minney each came in as relief pitchers and threw two innings. Minney added two strikeouts. Ball closed out the game in the circle, getting the final two outs.
 

Taylor with the 2 RBI single and she is tied for the all time hits record with 282 career hits🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/IqKZPmEvbw

— SHIP Sports Info (@ShipURaiders) May 2, 2024

 
Kutztown 13, Shippensburg 11
 
Shippensburg and Kutztown combined for 30 hits, with the Golden Bears taking a 7-0 after just two innings. The Raiders got on the board in the bottom of the third with a two-run homer by Lindsay to right field. Wilmot added another run to the Raider comeback with a solo homer to right-center in the bottom of the fourth.
 
The Golden Bears kept their bats swinging and added three more runs in the top of the fifth to make it 10-5.
 
Shippensburg, known within the last two years for its sixth-inning rallies at the PSAC Tournament, did not disappoint and continued that trend by scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth to take an 11-10 lead. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Myers hit a two-run single up the middle to bring home two runs and to tie Marsteller's school record of 282 career hits.
 
Lindsay then came to bat and hit a rocket over the left-field fence to tie the game, 10-10. With two outs, Minney drew a walk on a full count to get on base. Sullivan then brought home Minney with an RBI-triple for the Raiders' first lead of the day against KU.
 
In the top of the seventh, the Raiders were one out away from breaking their four-game losing streak to Kutztown, but the Golden Bears dug deep and hit back-to-back doubles to left field to tie the game at 11-11. Hannah Reimel's two-run home run secured the lead for KU.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, SU had the tying run on base with no outs as Nehlen drew a walk, and Myers hit a single to left field to break the all-time career hits record for the Raiders. KU pitcher Haley Gravish, who pitched the entire game for the Golden bears, yielded a fly out and two foulouts to get the win.

Myers with an RBI single to tie it up🤩 pic.twitter.com/YUlbHztxwk

— SHIP Sports Info (@ShipURaiders) May 2, 2024

 

Seton Hill 10, Shippensburg 5
 
Seton Hill run-ruled Bloomsburg earlier in the day, 8-0, to keep itself alive in the tournament. The Griffins started hot with an RBI-single up the middle in the first.
 
Shippensburg tied it up with an RBI single by Myers at the top of the second, but it was short-lived as Mackenzie Zang hit an RBI double to center field to take a 2-1 lead. The Griffins added two more runs in the bottom of the third to go up 4-1.
 
In the top of the fourth, Shippensburg scored three runs to tie the game up at 4-4. RBI-singles from Martell, Saboscik and Minney helped the Raiders stay in the game.
 
However, Seton Hill's Camryn Murphy hits a 3-run homer to center field to break the tie and give the Griffins their lead back. SHU plated another run before the Raiders were able to end the inning.
 
Shippensburg looked to threaten again in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded, one-out situation, but the Raiders were only able to get a bases-loaded walk drawn by Wilmot.
 
SHU added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run and an RBI-double. In the top of the seventh, the Raiders again had two runners on base with one out but were unable to continue the comeback.