ASTON, Pa. – Penn College went 1-1 on Championship Saturday to earn its second consecutive United East Conference Softball Runner-up finish. The Wildcats defeated No. 5 Penn State Harrisburg, 3-1 in an elimination game before falling to top-seeded Penn State Brandywine, 3-2 in the Championship Final. The Wildcats record is now 33-7. The Lions finished 34-7.
Despite the runner-up finish, the Wildcats received the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship for the third consecutive season since Brandywine is in their provisional timeline of transitioning to Division III and ineligible to advance.
Against Penn State Brandywine,
Penn College went ahead 2-1after three innings as
Arista Fine and
Taylor Brown both had RBI singles to score
Harley Kunes and
Sofia Mileto in the top of the second and third innings, respectively.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Brandywine scored the tying run and put pressure on with two outs and runners on the corner to score the walk off game winner with a single in the seventh.
Mileto led the Widcats at the plate with three hits while Brown and Kunes also posted two hits in the game.
Mackenzi Tice tossed her fourth complete game of the weekend and finished with six strikeouts and 10 hits.
Against Penn State Harrisburg,
The Wildcats' day began with a 3-1 elimination game victory against Penn State Harrisburg.
Payton Crawford provided the early spark with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning for her seventh long ball of the season to set a new program single-season record.
Penn State Harrisburg cut the deficit in half with a run in the sixth inning, but Rylee Rinker provided an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth and Tice shut down the Nittany Lions with two pop flys and a strikeout to advance.
Tice limited Harrisburg to just six hits and struckout three to earn her 22nd victory in the circle.
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 14-16.
