Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Softball: Rams face pair of must-wins today at home vs. West Virginia Wesleyan
WEST GOSHEN >> West Virginia Wesleyan is one win away from advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Softball Tournament for one basic reason. On Thursday in game one of the best-of-three Atlantic Super Regional final, the WVW batters adjusted to facing the opposing team’s top pitcher, and West Chester did not.
The visiting Bobcats staged a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Golden Rams, and now need to take just one of two scheduled meet-
ings on Friday to move on to Salem, Va., Memorial Day Weekend. Game 1 is scheduled for noon and Game 2 will follow, if necessary.
“We’ve played and won doubleheaders countless times this season,” said WCU shortstop Alyssa Herion. “We had a strong regular season and I think we just need to shake off this game.
“We know what to expect now and what we need to do. Everyone just needs to clear their head, have a game plan, be hyped and take two (Friday).”
It is going to be, of course, easier said than done. Wesleyan is now 48-7 overall, ranked seventh nationally, and is making its fifth trip to the Super Regional in the last six years. The PSAC champs, West Chester falls to 47-13 overall.
“If somebody beats us twice, they truly deserve to move forward,” said Bobcats’ head coach Steve Warner.
It was a rematch of a Sweet 16 clash from 2014, and the host Rams looked like they were on the way to a big series opening win after they scored twice in the first inning. West Chester,
however, managed just one more hit the rest of the way.
“We didn’t adjust well at the plate,” said WCU head coach Diane Lokey.
The first time around against WVW starter Hannah Vet, Herion delivered a run-scoring triple and Cat Hammer followed with an RBI. The ’Cats, on the other hand, managed just one hit through four innings against West Chester ace and workhorse, Amanda Houck.
“Anytime you are competing in the Super Regionals against a pitcher the caliber of (Houck), it’s hard to make up a two-run deficit,” Warner said.
“We told the kids that they’ve got to make the adjustments (at the plate), and that we are running out of time. And they did a good job and we got some balls hit back up the middle.”
Trouble started for WCU in a wild top half of the fifth inning that featured two botched suicide squeeze plays by West Virginia Wesleyan. With a runner on first, a grounder by Jessica Rodriguez glanced off Courtney Stump’s glove at third and Herion’s throw to first was wild.
With runners at the corners, the Bobcats tried the first suicide squeeze. When the batter failed to get
down the bunt, the runner was caught halfway to home plate, but Hammer’s throw from the plate was too high for Herion and the unearned run scored.
“Wesleyan is a very strong team and they just capitalized on a few of our defensive errors,” Lokey said.
“All through the postseason we’ve taken care of the ball well. It was just unfortunate that we had a few errors. We didn’t take care of the ball.”
Houck then got out of the jam with no further damage when the next batter also failed to get the bunt down and this time Hammer’s throw was on target.
“Our bunting’s been pretty atrocious all season long and I’ve harped about that,” Warner acknowledged.
But in the next inning, Wesleyan grabbed the lead for good thanks to four singles off Houck, including run-scoring hits by Olivia Gore and Rodriguez. And in the top of the seventh, the Bobcats threatened to pad the margin after chasing Houck. But reliever Brooke Harner worked out of a potential jam. The big defensive play came when Micaela McSpadden gunned down a runner at home on a grounder.
The Rams, however, went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh. The only other time WCU threatened was when Hammer hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, but was ultimately stranded. The numbers five through nine in West Chester’s batting order went a combined 0-for-14 on the day.
“Obviously, we didn’t get the key hit (in the fourth inning) when Cat doubled,” Lokey said.
“I’ve said all season we can hit well one through nine -- and we need to hit well one through nine -- because at this level, Amanda (Houck) or Brooke (Harner) are not going to shut down the other team. We have to keep scoring.”
In all, Vet allowed just two hits, no earned runs and fanned four.
“(West Chester’s) one through five hitters are very good, they have a lot of team speed and they are very athletic,” Warner said. “I knew we couldn’t get into the slugfest with them. They’ve hit more home runs than we have and a considerable amount of more stolen bases.
“Our pitcher just did a good job of hitting her spots. They hit the ball hard but we got some ground ball outs, and we played pretty good defense.”
Houck scattered eight hits and surrendered two earned runs in six innings of work. But seven of those hits came against the last 13 batters she faced.
“Amanda was spectacular on the mound. She continued to hit her spots and (WVW) just made adjustments and got some key hits,” Lokey said.
“(West Virginia Wesleyan) had seen me a couple times and they were making the adjustments,” added Houck, who is expected to get the Game Two start. “But I was on the plate a little more than I should have been.”