Lock Haven wins 2019 PSAC Conference Championship
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – At the beginning of every season, every team in America, no matter the level, sets out with a similar goal. That goal is to win their respective Conference Championship.
The Lock Haven University softball team (31-17-1) can officially cross that goal off their list.
LHU was able to grind out a 6-4, winner take all victory over Gannon University (30-14) in the championship game of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon in Quakertown. The championship is the sixth in Lock Haven’s rich history and the first since 2009, when LHU knocked off Bloomsburg 8-1.
Lock Haven dropped the first game of the Championship series, 7-5, which pushed the teams to the winner take all matchup.
In that game, LHU trailed 7-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, but was able to put four runs on the board as the team rallied to get within 7-5, but it was not quite enough as The Bald Eagles fell, 7-5.
Even though the team lost game one, they ended the game strong and were ready to carry that momentum over to the winner-take-all finale.
Lock Haven got the scoring started in the bottom of the second when Traci Kromko (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to put LHU ahead. 1-0.
Gannon immediately responded in the top of the third with a home run to right field that tied the game at 1-1.
LHU retook the lead in the bottom of the third when Rachel Gricoski (Frackville, Pa./North Schuylkill) sent a single down the left field line to score a run and Lock Haven led 2-1 after three before The Golden Knights tied it up at 2-2 with a home run to left field in the top of the fourth.
LHU answered Gannon’s rally in a big way in the fourth, scoring four runs in the inning and jumping out to a 6-2 lead.
After Kayla Gee (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock) started off the inning with a single, Kromko was able to reach on an error to put two on for Faith Ceely (Troy, Pa./Troy). Ceely delivered for LHU when she sent a two run single down the left field line to put Lock Haven ahead, 4-2.
Chloe Kennedy (Elkton, Md./Caravel Academy) then stepped up to the plate and sent a rocket back up the middle that scored Ceely from second to put The Bald Eagles ahead, 5-2. Casey Carpenter (Spring Brook, Pa./North Pocono) then doubled down the left field line to score Kennedy as LHU scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the 6-2 lead.
Gannon used a two-run home run in the top of the fifth to cut LHU’s lead in half as The Bald Eagles led 6-4, but Bekah Slattery (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) was able to get a strikeout with the bases loaded and two outs to end the Gannon threat and keep Lock Haven in front.
In the seventh inning, Gannon was able to put runners on second and third with two outs while Lock Haven was left clinging to a 6-4 lead, but Slattery then did what she had done 829 times in her career and more than any pitcher in the PSAC this season.
She struck her out.
Slattery recorded her 830th career strikeout and seventh of the game as she was mauled by her teammates as LHU outlasted Gannon, 6-4 to claim the conference tournament championship and book LHU’s second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Slattery was named the Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player for her dominant, all-around play through the tournament. She finished hitting a stellar .454 in five games while recording three home runs and four RBI’s while also racking up a 3-1 record in the circle, striking out 55 batters and recording a save.
The three home runs were her first three of the season as she continuously rose to the occasion when her team needed her most.
With her save in the final game, she became the all-time leader in saves in conference history as she recorded her 12thcareer save.
None were bigger than this one.
Gee started the game in the circle and delivered a gutsy performance for The Bald Eagles. She allowed six hits over four innings of work as she kept one of the most lethal offenses in the conference at bay while also igniting Lock Haven’s four-run fourth inning with her single to start things off.
Carpenter led the LHU offense at the plate, going 2-3 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Ceely finished the game with a single and two RBI’s while Gee, Gricoski, Kennedy and Amanda Criss (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) all added hits for The Haven.
Kromko also recorded an RBI while Kennedy scored two runs.
Up next:
The Bald Eagles will now turn their attention to Monday’s (May 6) NCAA selection show. The selection show will begin Monday morning at 10:00 AM where LHU will find out where they will head for the first round of the NCAA Regional Tournament. As the PSAC Champion, Lock Haven is guaranteed a spot in the field and will be eager to learn what lies ahead.
