STROUDSBURG -- After suffering consecutive losses for the first time this season on Friday, the East  Stroudsburg University softball team got back to its winning ways with a sweep of Shepherd (5-2, 5-1) on Saturday afternoon at Creekview Park.

The Warriors (26-4, 3-3 PSAC East), picked up its first sweep in conference play with the two wins. The Rams fall to 10-14, 3-3 in PSAC East play.

The ESU pitching staff of Katie Zaun (W, 8-3), Paige Zigmund (W, 8-0) and Leigh Ann Jenkins (S, 2), combined to allow just seven hits in 14 innings of action, holding the Rams to a .137 batting average and just three runs. 

Notables

• Zaun picked up her eighth win of her freshman campaign in the complete game win, tossing a three-hitter in seven innings. The Allentown native struck out six and held the Rams to a .125 average. Of the three hits allowed, two came in the fifth inning, which SU was able to plate both of its runs.
• Zigmund pitched the first four innings against SU in game two, picking up her eighth victory of the season. She struck out five and allowed three hits and one earned run. Jenkins came in and allowed just one hit over the final three innings for her second save of the season. She posted four strikeouts and lowered her ERA to 0.89.
• Reilly Vicendese (4-5) led ESU with four hits, all singles, and drove in two runs. She stole a pair of bases and did not commit an error.
• Lexi Wright (3-5), recorded three hits, including a triple and produced a run.
• Ashley Spencer, Molly Nies and Brooke McKeown all added two hits. McKeown, Nies, Denva Shaw-Tait and Katherine Donaghue each added a Warrior RBI.

How it Happened - Game 1

• It didn't take long for the Warriors to get their bats going, with ESU's second batter of the game plating a run on an RBI double. Nies sent her third RBI of the weekend with a double to score McKeown, who started the game with a single.
• After Zaun issued a walk in the first inning, she retired 14 consecutive Rams, not allowing a hit until the sixth frame. A double in the top of the sixth inning for SU accounted for their first hit of the game.
• The Warriors extended its lead in the bottom of the third frame, as Wright tripled to right to open the inning. After two ground outs, Vicendese came up clutch with an RBI single, lifting ESU to a 2-0 lead after three innings.
• With Zaun cruising through the Shepherd's lineup, ESU added three runs in the bottom of the 4th. Shaw-Tait and Wright smacked RBI singles, while McKeown followed with a two-out triple, as the Warriors suddenly led 5-0 after a four-hit inning.
• After a scoreless fifth, SU made the contest interesting with two runs on three hits in the top of the 6th. After a strikeout, a double, a triple and a suicide squeeze combined to score two runs, the Rams cut the deficit to three runs. Zaun settled down to get the final two Rams in the inning to fly out, stranding a pair of runners on base to preserve the Warrior lead.
• ESU went down in order in its final at bats, as Zaun finished what she started by sending home the first three batters she faced out for her eighth win of the season.

How it Happened - Game 2

• The Warriors exploded for four runs in its first at bats in game two. ESU slashed four hits and took advantage of four Shepherd errors. The speedy Warriors stole three bases, with a pair of runs scoring on two throwing errors by the SU catcher. Donaghue capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI single, with an additional runner scoring off an error by the left fielder. After the first inning, the Warriors led the Rams, 4-0.
• Both squads went silent offensively until SU tacked on its first run of game two in the top of the 4th. After a one-out  single, an Ashley Burger double  allowed Hannah Beeler to score. The Warriors could not respond in its half of the fourth, as SU sliced the deficit to three after four innings.
• Jenkins took over mound duties after one pitch in fifth inning and allowed just one hit over the final three innings to shut the door.
• The Warriors tallied the final run of the series in the bottom of the 5th, as Vicendese sent an RBI single through left side of the infield to score Wright. Jenkins stranded a pair in the top of the 6th, with lone hit Jenkins allowed being a leadoff double. After a throwing error, Jenkins forced a pop out and a strikeout to escape the inning unharmed.
• Both teams went down in order in the seventh, as ESU picked up its 26th win of the season with the 5-1 victory.

• The Warriors are idle of game action until next weekend, when ESU heads to West Chester for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 16.
• First pitch is slated for 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. against the Golden Rams.