Bald Eagles Bow Out of NCAA Tournament
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Lock Haven University softball team’s remarkable two-week run in the postseason came to end today in the 2019 NCAA Division II Tournament as the Bald Eagles bowed out of Atlantic Region 1 action. In another marathon-game – of sorts – top-seed West Liberty downed Lock Haven (32-19-1), 8-2, in an elimination game this morning,
The game actually started last night (Friday) at 7 p.m. after a long day of softball. In all, the Bald Eagles played a 15-inning opening game Thursday, an 11-inning game yesterday vs. Shepherd and this game with West Liberty that stretched over two days.
With the win, West Liberty (38-18), the top-seed, moves into the championship game later today vs. Shepherd, the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic Region.
Overall, Lock Have went 1-2 in Atlantic Region tournament play.
The Bald Eagles earned their spot in the 2019 NCAA Tournament by way of winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship last week in exciting fashion. LHU was 4-1 at the PSAC Tournament.
This elimination game with West Liberty started late yesterday (Friday), but was suspended after four innings because of darkness.
After four innings, West Liberty led 6-2.
The hosts and top-seeded Hilltoppers struck early and led 1-0 after one inning.
LHU was quick to tie the at 1-1, thanks to the bat of Chloe Kennedy (Elkton, Md./Caravel Academy). Kennedy led off the top of the second inning with a solo home run to left field.
West Liberty plated five runs in the bottom of the third and led 6-1 after three innings.
The Bald Eagles got another one back as Bekah Slattery (Douglasville, Pa./Daniel Boone) singled home a run to make it 6-2. After two marathon efforts in the pitcher’s circle (26 innings), Slattery started this elimination-game with WLU as the designated player.
After four innings of action, the umpires were forced to suspend the game as the two teams ran out of daylight to play.
Today’s action picked up in the top of the fifth and the score was still set at 6-2 in favor of No. 1 seed West Liberty.
In the top of the fifth, Casey Carpenter (Spring Brook, Pa./North Pocono) drew a walk from the lead-off spot, but WLU responded with three straight outs.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Slattery – the 2019 Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year – returned to the circle to pitch.
In the bottom of the fifth, WLU scored two runs on two hits and stretched the lead to 8-2.
In the sixth, Lock Haven threatened with runners at second and third with two outs, but relief pitcher Taylor Bonnett got a key strikeout and ended the Bald Eagle rally.
Slattery dug in, in the bottom of the sixth after allowing a lead-off double. She recorded a strikeout, forced a line out to left and tallied another strikeout for the third out.
In the top seventh, looking to rally for the final time, the Bald Eagles put runners on, but just couldn’t fire up one last rally and plate the runs they needed.
West Liberty held strong and won 8-2 to advance to the title game.
LHU scored its two runs on four hits, while WLU scored eight runs on 13 hits. Lock Haven’s four hits came from four different players.
Kayla Gee (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock) got the start – yesterday – and struck out two over two innings. Today, Slattery struck out three.
On Friday, LHU opened the day with vs. Shepherd in the winner’s bracket. Lock Haven fell to No. 4 seed Shepherd, 3-0 in 11 innings. The Rams scored three runs in the top of the 11th which proved to be the difference in the win for Shepherd. The win pushed SU into the championship game of the Atlantic Region 1 bracket.
The day-opening loss to Shepherd pushed LHU into the elimination game with top-seed West Liberty.
Back on Thursday (May 9), the Bald Eagles opened their 2019 NCAA tournament run with a 15-inning marathon-game vs. No. 1 seed West Liberty. Lock Haven scored five runs in the top of the 15th inning and outlasted the top-seeded Hilltoppers, 7-2.
For LHU, the 2019 NCAA tournament marks LHU’s 14th all-time appearance in the national tournament. It’s also the Bald Eagles second straight NCAA championship appearance. All-time, Lock Haven is now 49-26 in the national championship tournament.
