Box Scores - L 5-4 / W 5-3

MILLERSVILLE - Junior pitcher Jackie Battaglino shut out Millersville for six innings, then survived a four-error seventh inning that allowed three Marauders to score before leaving the bases loaded to pitch East Stroudsburg University into the PSAC softball playoffs for the third straight year with a doubleheader split at Millersville on Saturday afternoon.

ESU won the second game 5-3 after dropping the opener 5-4. They entered the day one game behind West Chester for the division's third and final postseason spot, but the Golden Rams were swept by PSAC East leader Kutztown to leave the door open. The Warriors earned the tiebreaker by virtue of its 2-1 win over Shippensburg in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday, giving a 1-3 record against the second-place team in the division. West Chester lost all four of its games to both Kutztown and Shippensburg this season.

The Warriors outhit Millersville 8-5 in the first game, but the Marauders pounded three home runs, including a solo shot by Amy Kossyk and a two-run shot by Casey Coker as part of a three-run fifth inning that gave them a 5-4 lead. Emily Flieger earned the win in the circle while Brittany Peterson came on to get the final four outs and pick up the save.

Senior catcher Amanda Feist hit her seventh home run of the year, moving into sole possession of second on ESU's single season list, and into a tie for second with Shannon Dietrich (2004-07) with her 14th career homer.

In the second game, ESU scored twice in the second inning as freshman 3B Rachel Gieringer had an RBI single and sophomore OF Jamie Mingis later reached on an error and scored on another Millersville miscue.

Gieringer picked up another RBI base hit in the third inning, and the Warriors went ahead 5-0 in the fourth. Sophomore OF Alicea Ashe singled, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by sophomore SS Brittany Racek, who eventually came home on a sacrifice fly by Feist.

Battaglino allowed two hits but pitched out of trouble in the sixth, but wasn't as fortunate in the seventh inning. Millersville scored three runs on just one hit, a RBI single by Lindsay Hosier, but capitalized on four ESU errors and a hit by pitch to load the bases and put the tying run on second base with two outs. Battaglino got Trisha Johnson to ground out to freshman Brandi Stettler at second, who threw to senior Kerri Jakobsen at first to seal the victory and the Warriors' PSAC playoff spot.

ESU will travel to California, the top seed in the PSAC West, as part of the PSAC's new softball format that will have three three-team tournaments played out next weekend. The Warriors will take on Bloomsburg in their first game, the No. 2 seed from the PSAC Central.

Racek was 3-for-4 in the first game and Feist (2-for-2), Gieringer (2-for-2) and junior OF Kara Darcey (2-for-3) all had a pair of hits in the second game for the Warriors. Battaglino scattered nine hits and didn't allow an earned run while pitching through adversity in the seventh.

ESU wraps up the regular season on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Mercy College before beginning tournament play on Friday.