• Box Score

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (May 10) – The California University of Pennsylvania softball team suffered a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Lock Haven University on Sunday in the championship game of the 2009 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament at Lawrence Field.

The Vulcans finish the season with a 35-10 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the double-elimination tournament. Meanwhile, the Bald Eagles improve to 44-5 overall and advance to next week's NCAA Super Regionals.

The game featured a pitchers' duel between senior Kristen Erb and sophomore Maria Greco (Pickering, Ontario/Notre Dame Catholic), both of who were named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Pitcher of the Year in their respective division last week. In yesterday's meeting between the two schools, Erb and Greco both tossed complete games.

Greco suffered the loss and finishes the season with a 15-6 record. She allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits in 5.0 innings. Greco also registered three strikeouts in the game to increase her team-best total to 147, which ranks as the fifth-highest single-season total in school history.

Erb (43-4), the all-time winningest pitcher in NCAA history, tossed her third complete-game shutout of the regional tournament. She scattered only four hits in 7.0 innings and recorded 11 strikeouts with no walks.

Cal U looked to take the lead in the top of the first after juniors Kayleigh Braim (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) and Julie Mackenzie (Mississauga, Ontario/Meadowvale) opened the game with back-to-back singles before Erb retired the next 17-consecutive batters.

Lock Haven broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning with three runs on three hits, 3-0. Five-straight Bald Eagles reached base in the inning with two runs scoring on a two-out error. In the sixth, Lock Haven looked to add an insurance run after having runners on first and second with no outs. Junior Sonia Petrosoniak (Mississauga, Ontario/Clarkson) then relieved Greco and retired the Bald Eagles in order.

Mackenzie collected two of the four hits by the Vulcans with Braim and sophomore third baseman Danielle Easton (Hanover, Pa./South Western) each adding a single.

Mackenzie finished the season with a team-best 17 doubles, which is only one shy of the school record of 18 set by Lith Webb in 1997. Catcher Alyson Johnson (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg Central) belted a school freshman record 13 homers, ranking her tied for third in single-season history by any player.

The 35 wins by the Vulcans in 2009 marks their 11th 30-win season since 1994 and is their highest total since the 2000 campaign (44-15).