QUAKERTOWN, Pa. — For the first time since 1980, the East Stroudsburg University softball team are PSAC champions following a Game 2 victory over Shepherd on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Park.
The Warriors (46-10-1) captured their second PSAC Championship in program history and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Their 46 wins this season tie the program record, which they set last year. Shepherd (28-22-1) had its impressive tournament run come to an end. The Rams entered the tournament ranked fifth in the Atlantic Region and will learn their postseason fate Monday during the NCAA Selection Show.
Under head coach
Jaime Wohlbach, ESU has experienced the most successful era in program history. Wohlbach has led the Warriors to now four NCAA Tournament appearances (2021, 2023, 2024, 2025), an NCAA Atlantic Region title (2023), three PSAC East regular-season titles (2023, 2024, 2025), the program's first trip to the college world series in 2023 and finishing as the No.5 team in the country that season,and now the team's first PSAC Championship in 45 years. Her coaching staff includes
Sami Britton,
Bo Vicendese,
Erica Molinaro, and
Lexi Wright.
Notables
Freshmen
Tulana Mingin and
Kinsley Proepper each recorded three hits in the championship game. Mingin scored twice, while Proepper drove in four runs.
Senior
Abigail Weirich continued her strong tournament, collecting two hits, scoring three times, and adding an RBI.
Katie Master had two RBIs in the PSAC Championship finale, including a go-ahead single in the third inning that broke a 2-2 tie.
Sarah Davenport pitched a complete game in the opener. Despite the loss, she limited Shepherd to three runs. Davenport was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after pitching four complete games, totaling 26 innings with 35 strikeouts and a 1.34 ERA.
Faith Troyer made her first start of the tournament in Game 2, pitching 2.1 innings. She was relieved by
Abbie Landrum, who delivered 3.2 shutout innings in her tournament debut. Landrum also contributed offensively, driving in a run in the fourth, her first RBI of the season.
Vanessa Morales, who scored the winning run on Friday, made her first start since February 26, making some key defensive plays at second base, including catching a line drive to convert a double play in the sixth inning.
Game 1: How it Happened
In a much-anticipated showdown between two of the best pitchers in the PSAC—ESU's Davenport and Shepherd's Madelayne Ruffner—both aces went the distance. Davenport threw 109 pitches to Ruffner's 108, but it was the Rams who emerged with the win, forcing a winner-take-all Game 2.
Game 2: How it Happened
ESU struck first with an RBI single from
Delaney Ridgell and a sacrifice from Proepper for a 2-0 lead. Shepherd tied the game at 2-2 in the third with a two-run homer, but that was all the Rams would muster. In the bottom half, Master delivered the go-ahead RBI single, followed by another RBI from Proepper to make it 4-2.
The Warriors broke it open in the fourth with four more runs from Weirich, Master, Proepper and Landrum to stretch the lead to 9-2.
Shannon Edelman sealed the title with an RBI double in the sixth, scoring pinch runner
Georgia Tym.
Up Next
With the PSAC title, ESU earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Warriors have held the No. 1 spot in the Atlantic Region rankings the past two weeks and will learn their official seeding during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 5 at 10 a.m.
