READING, Pa. – Penn College went 1-1 on Championship Sunday to earn a United East Softball Runner-up finish. The Wildcats defeated No. 3 Penn State Harrisburg, 3-1 in nine innings before falling to No. 2 Penn State Brandywine, 8-6 in the Championship Final. The Wildcats record is now 28-15. The Lions are 35-8.
Despite the runner-up finish, the Wildcats received the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive season since Brandywine is in their provisional timeline of transitioning to Division III and ineligible to advance.
Against Brandywine,
The Wildcats led off the championship game with a two-out rally in the first inning when
Mackenzie Weaver,
Lexi Snyder and
Grace Lorson roped back-to-back-to-back singles and load the bases. Weaver and Snyder later scored on Brandywine errors to take an early 2-0 lead. Brandywine plated one run in the bottom half of the frame to cut the deficit in half.
In the third inning, Weaver scored on another Lions error and
Fayth Anderson smacked a two-run single to centerfield and stretch the Wildcats' lead to 5-1, and a Crawford single in the fifth to plate Lorson, increased the lead to 6-1.
Penn State Brandywine used a four-run fifth inning and added three more in the sixth to gain an 8-6 lead.
The Wildcats led off the top of the seventh with a Snyder single, but two quick flyouts to right field put the Wildcats down to their final out.
Ryleigh Rinker and
Fayth Anderson kept PCT alive with back-to-back singles, but a bang-bang play at the plate with Rinker threatening to tie the score on a Tice infield single ended the game, 7-8.
Snyder led the offense with three hits while Lorson and Anderson both finished with two hits. Anderson drove in a team-high three RBIs. Weaver tossed 4.1 innings and Tice came in for 1.2 innings of relief work to slow down the Lions as the duo combined for six Ks.
Against Harrisburg,
The Wildcats' day started against third-seeded Harrisburg in the semifinal game. A scoreless pitcher's duel through regulation, broke open in the eighth inning when the Wildcats and Lions pushed across one run each. Snyder hit an RBI single to score
Harley Kunes, and Crawford smashed an RBI double to score
Colleen Cole and put the Wildcat ahead in a two-run ninth inning. Tice shut the door on the Lions with 10 strikeouts and allowed just three hits.
Up next: Penn College's Regional Championship draw will be revealed during the NCAA Division III Softball Selection Show at 11 a.m., on Monday. The Regional Round is scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, May 15-17.