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W 3-2 / L 6-1

EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior Caitlin Monahan allowed just a pair of unearned runs and seniors Jamie Mingis and Samantha Capriotti drove in the game-tying and go-ahead runs in the fourth inning as East Stroudsburg University beat West Chester, 3-2, in the first game to earn a split of Saturday's PSAC East softball doubleheader at Zimbar Field.

Monahan yielded both runs in the first inning and held West Chester (24-16, 6-6) to three hits over the final six frames for her eighth win of the season. The Golden Rams managed their biggest threat in the sixth, putting runners on first and third with one out, but Monahan got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.

The Warriors (12-17, 3-7) scored two runs in the fourth on two hits and three walks to take a 3-2 lead. Mingis drove in freshman pinch-runner Kaitlin Blum with the tying run after junior 2B Brandi Settler singled to lead off the inning, and senior Julia Collins, senior Brittany Racek and Capriotti all drew walks to force in the second run.

Racek doubled – the 34th of her career, second-most in school history – and scored on a double by junior 3B Rachel Gieringer to get the Warriors on the board in the first inning. Racek was 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot in the first game to key ESU's seven-hit attack and is hitting .388 on the year.

West Chester won the second game, 6-1, by scoring five runs over the final three innings. Kim Murl (4.1 IP, 8 hits, 1 run) was the winning pitcher and Devon Utterback (2.2 IP, 2 hits), the losing pitcher in game one, came on for her first save of the season. ESU managed 10 hits but stranded 11 base runners, including 10 in the first five innings.

Gieringer was 2-for-4 and homered in the fifth inning to cut into a 2-0 deficit for the Warriors' only run. Ashe went 3-for-4 in the second game and 4-for-7 in the doubleheader. ESU had 17 hits in the series with every starter accumulating at least one base knock.

Monahan took the loss in the circle in the second game, coming up two outs short of throwing a pair of complete games, and is 8-7 on the season.

Abby Block was 5-for-5 at the plate on the day to lead West Chester, which had 13 hits in the second game and 18 overall. Leadoff hitter Erin McNamee, who was 4-for-5 in West Chester's home sweep of ESU last month, went 1-for-8 but is still hitting .336 this season.

The doubleheader marked the Warriors' home opener and the first of four PSAC East doubleheaders in the final week of the regular season. ESU hosts Kutztown on Wednesday, Shippensburg on Friday and Millersville on Saturday next week as it looks to secure its fifth straight PSAC tournament appearance with one of the three playoff spots from the PSAC East.