Bloomsburg Drops Heartbreaker to Lock Haven; Defeat Cal in Opening Round

BLOOMSBURG- Despite two dominant performances by pitcher Ashley Lynn (Riverside/ Danville), the Bloomsburg University softball team could not overtake Lock Haven, the second ranked team in Division II softball. The Huskies fell 1-0 in nine innings in the second round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships. In the first round, the Huskies topped California (PA) 5-0.

The game was a classic pitchers duel between two of the best pitchers in the conference; Lynn and Lock Haven's Kristen Erb. With the game still scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, the Lady Eagles' Ilia Lopez drew a one out walk, stole second base and then advanced to third on a fly out. However, with two outs, Erica Eisenbise then reached on an error allowing the winning run to score from third.

Lynn was brilliant in a losing effort, allowing just three hits, while striking out 11 and not allowing an earned run. With her seven scoreless innings in the win over Cal and the 8.2 innings pitched in game two, she has now gone 51.2 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. Erb was just as dominant, throwing nine shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out eight. She allowed just one base runner to reach third base all game.

In the early game, against California, the Huskies put the game away early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second. With runners on second and third and one away, Kayleen Sidisky (Bellefonte/ Bellefonte Area) drove home two runs on a single to put the first two runs on the board. Three batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, Stacy Krupiewski (Trooper/ Methacton) singled home two more runs to increase their lead to 4-0. The Huskies added to their lead in the bottom the sixth when Jess Rosin (Brooklyn, NY/ James Madison) doubled home Nikki Shiko (Kulpmont/ Southern Columbia) from first base to make it 5-0. That would prove to be more than enough offense for Lynn who tossed a complete game and allowed just four hits while striking out nine batters.

The Huskies will play an elimination game tomorrow at noon against the loser of Kutztown and East Stroudsburg.