• Game 1 Box Score
• Game 2 Box Score

CALIFORNIA (April 9) – Freshman Hope Spancake (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) struck out a season-high 13 batters and four players hit homers in Game 1, as the No. 24 Vulcans earned a split with Kutztown, winning 6-1 before dropping the nightcap, 4-3, at Lilly Field on Saturday afternoon.

The California University of Pennsylvania softball team is now 23-9 this season, while Kutztown moves to 32-9.

Spancake tossed a complete game in Game 1, allowing just one run (earned) on four hits while striking out 13 in 7.0 innings (128 pitches). The Golden Bears' Monica Glomb was saddled with the loss (12-4) in the first game after working the first 3.1 innings (62 pitches) and allowing three runs (all earned) on seven hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Kutztown scored their lone run in the top of the first when the first batter of the game, center fielder Jackie Hetzler, connected on a solo homer. Cal U answered back in the bottom half of the inning when senior first baseman Sarah Spiering (Upper Burrell, Pa./Burrell) lined a two-run double down the right field line, 2-0.

The Vulcans added runs in the fourth and fifth innings on solo homers by senior third baseman Danielle Easton (Hanover, Pa./South Western), her second of the season, and junior shortstop Jillian Russell (London, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic), her 11th of the season. In the bottom of the sixth, Cal U added a pair of insurance runs on a two-run homer by freshman second baseman Shelby Lia (Whitby, Ontario/Donald A. Wilson), her sixth of the year, to increase the lead to 6-1.

Three Vulcans produced two-hit performances, with Lia and Spiering each adding two RBI.

In Game 2, freshman starter Kaitlyn Schilling (Morrisville, Pa./Pennsbury) took the loss (7-4) after allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 6.1 innings (111 pitches). The Golden Bears' Samantha Derr earned the victory (13-4), allowing three runs (all earned) on nine hits while striking out five in 7.0 innings (119 pitches).

Kutztown again scored in the top of the first, taking advantage of two errors to plate an unearned run, 1-0. Cal U tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the inning when freshman catcher Natalie Wideman (Mississauga, Ontario/Streetsville Secondary) scored from second on a single by junior designated player Alyson Johnson (Waynesburg, Pa./Waynesburg Central).

The Vulcans plated two more runs in the bottom of the third when Wideman and Russell led off the inning with back-to-back doubles, before junior left fielder Kristen McKenzie (Senneville, Quebec/St. Thomas) drove in Russell with a double down the left field line, 3-1.

Kutztown took the lead in the top of the seventh on a three-run homer by third baseman Nicole Henninger, 4-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Lia and Wideman both singled to start the inning before Derr was able to force two pop-ups on the infield and a ground out to end the game.

In the nightcap, Wideman led Cal U by going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Johnson finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Vulcans return to action tomorrow, Sunday April 10, when they host Edinboro at Lilly Field in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West doubleheader at 1 p.m.