Softball NEAC champs
0
SUNYIT SITW 19-16
9
Winner Penn State Berks PSBW 29-6
SUNYIT SITW
19-16
0
Final
9
Penn State Berks PSBW
29-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
SUNYIT SITW 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Penn State Berks PSBW 3 2 0 4 X 9 11 0

W: Hafer, Casey (19-2) L: F. Reinold (10-5)

Game Recap: Softball |

Nittany Lions repeat as NEAC Champs



COBLESKILL, N.Y. (May 4, 2014) - The Penn State Berks softball team downed the SUNY Institute of Technology, 9-0, to win its second straight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) title and earn the automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA Regional Championship.

Casey Hafer was named the NEAC Tournament MVP for the second straight year. She picked up all three wins from the pitcher's circle and also helped herself out at the plate with two home runs. Hafer tossed three complete games and two shutouts to finish the tournament with a 1.06 earned run average. She also recorded 14 strikeouts while allowing just nine hits and three walks. She batted .400 (4-for-10) with two home runs, seven runs batted in, and three runs scored.

The Wildcats, who entered as the No. 2 seed from the North Division, were unable to generate any offense or keep the Nittany Lions off the bases. The only blemish by Hafer was a double by the third batter of the game. It was the only baserunner as Hafer faced just one batter over the game minimum. She struck out four batters and forced eight ground outs to the infield.

The Nittany Lions (29-6) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Colleen Hoge led off with a double and Chelsea Bright followed with an RBI double. Two batters latter, Julia Moscato added an RBI double. Jenna Heffner reached on an error to score Moscato.

Hafer added to that lead with a two-run home run to score Bright and make it a 5-0 advantage. They tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth with RBIs by Moscato, Megan Olsen, Heffner, and Abby Staskiel.

Bright, who was 1-for-1 with two walks, finished the tournament 8-for-8 with with eight runs scored, eight RBI, and three doubles. Moscato went 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Staskiel and MISSY LAMM each recorded two hits.

The Nittany Lions outscored the opposition 25-3 in the conference tournament. Under the guidance of Donna Ference, who received her NEAC Coach of the Year Award on Saturday, Berks has outscored their opposition margin of 309-87. The Nittany Lions are currently ranked first in all of Division III with a scoring average of 8.35 runs per game and rank 16th with a .366 batting average.

The Nittany Lions will find out where they will be heading for the regional tournament during the NCAA selection show on Monday, May 5 at 10 a.m.
 
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