STROUDSBURG – The 16th-ranked East Stroudsburg University softball team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament and saw its historic season come to an end with a pair of losses to Kutztown (1-0, 10 Inn.) and Shippensburg (6-1) in the NCAA Atlantic Regional on Saturday at Creekview Park's Vigon International Field.
The Warriors (46-17) close the campaign with a single-season record of 46 wins. The Golden Bears (35-22) and Raiders (35-20) advance to Sunday's pod final. The NCAA Atlantic Regional game six between KU and SU will start at 11:00 a.m. If Shippensburg wins, game seven will be played 30 minutes after the last out with the winner heading to the NCAA Super Regionals. Bowie State was eliminated with a 9-2 defeat in game four against Shippensburg.
Pitching Notables
- Sarah Davenport (L, 25-7) gave it her all in game one against Kutztown, tossing all 10 innings of the extra-inning contest. She conceded just four hits while striking out 14 batters and pitched nine scoreless innings. She did not walk a single Golden Bear. The Hillsborough, N.J. native allowed a solo home run in the top of the 10th that just went over the fence in center field in the lone run of the contest.
- Paige Zigmund (L, 20-10) pitched all six innings in game two. She gave up 12 hits and five earned runs, walking a pair of batters in her final contest at ESU.
Batting Notables
How It Happened – Kutztown 1, ESU 0
- Both Davenport and Kutztown's Haley Gravish posted masterful performances in the circle. Gravish allowed six hits and fired six strikeouts in the win. The 10-inning marathon featured just 10 hits, zero walks, and 18 combined strikeouts from the two hurlers. ESU left three Warriors on base, while KU left three Golden Bears on base.
- With two outs in the top of the 10th, Alexa Stevens snuck a solo home run just over the center field fence for the first run of the contest. Kate Donahue reached base with a two-out single up the middle as the tying run, but a deep flyout ended the game in favor of Kutztown, 1-0.
How It Happened – Shippensburg 6, ESU 1
- Shippensburg kept momentum in its second game of the day, after defeating Bowie State, 9-2.
- After a scoreless first inning, the Raiders took an early advantage with three runs in the top of the 2nd. After a leadoff single and stolen base, a groundout and a walk put runners on the corners; an RBI single by Emillee Sullivan lifted SU to a 1-0 edge. Alyssa Nehlen followed with another RBI base knock to make it a 2-0 lead. The Raiders added a run after Kaitlin Houser caught a runner stealing; an errant throw at home plate allowed the third run to score.
- ESU got a run back in its next at-bats. With two outs, Lipkins singled to start a rally, while Vicendese followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Weirich connected on an RBI single to bring home Lipkins, while Vicendese was thrown out at the plate for the third out.
- Ship added a run in the bottom of the 4th with an RBI single by Taylor Meyers.
- In the bottom of the 6th, Caitlyn Martell brought home two runs with a two-RBI single.
- All-PSAC East Second Team selection Alicia Ball retired the final 11 Warriors she faced to advance the Raiders to the Atlantic Regional Pod 1 final on Sunday.
Thank You Seniors: ESU's senior class of Kate Donaghue, Denva Shaw-Tait, Paige Zigmund, Reilly Vicendese, and Kaitlin Houser completed their collegiate careers, helping ascend the Warriors to new heights. The crew helped lead the Warriors to a 153-63 (70.8 winning percentage) record since 2021. Each of the past four seasons, ESU matched or broke its single-season wins record and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in three of the four campaigns. The Warriors earned its first NCAA Atlantic Region Championship in program history in 2023, finishing the season ranked fifth in the final NFCA poll after earning the first NCAA Softball Championship win and appearance. ESU earned back-to-back PSAC Regular Season Championships (2023 Co-Champs, 2024). The four Warriors combined for six All-PSAC and four all-region selections.
Rewrite the Record Book: Along with setting the single-season wins record, several Warriors broke career and single-season records throughout the 2024 season.
- Freshman Sarah Davenport recorded one of, if not the most successful single-season pitching campaigns in program history. The PSAC East Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year finished her first season as a Warrior with a 25-7 record (2nd most wins), 1.31 ERA (4th best since 1985), 322 strikeouts (program record), strikeouts per 7-innings (12.11), 186.2 innings pitched (4th), 42 appearances (program record), .188 batting average against (program record), and eight saves (program record). She entered the week leading all of NCAA Division II in strikeouts and strikeouts per 7-innings.
- Taylor Lipkins broke ESU's single-season hits record, finishing her first season at ESU with 78 hits.
- Katie Master tied the single-season program record for home runs with 10, matching Alicea Ashe's original record of 10 in 2010.
- Reilly Vicendese closes her career as one of the top hitters and fielders in program history. She set ESU career records in hits (252), stolen bases (108), runs scored (164), and RBIs (110).
- Paige Zigmund became the Warriors' all-time wins leader (56) in just three seasons at ESU after transferring from Lock Haven following her freshman year. Her 76.7 winning percentage ranks second all-time.
- Head Coach Jaime Wohlbach became ESU's all-time wins leader in 2024 after guiding ESU to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons. She picked up her 400th career win on Thursday against Bowie State. Since taking over coaching duties in 2016, Wohlbach has guided ESU to a 231-168 record, including a record of 153-63 since 2021.
