[Kutztown Press Release] KU SOFTBALL TO PLAY FOR PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP

Tue Apr 29 09:13:26 EDT 2008

April 28, 2008

KU SOFTBALL TO PLAY FOR PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP
KUTZTOWN, PA - The Kutztown University softball team will be in search if its first conference championship, when it heads to Lock Haven University for the 2008 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship Tournament Thursday-Saturday, May 1-3.
         All of the games of the six-team, double-elimination tournament will be played at Lock Haven's Lawrence Field.
            The No. 1 seed from the PSAC East, the Golden Bears will play the third game of the tournament Thursday at 2:30 p.m.  East Stroudsburg (East No. 3) will play California (Pa.) (West No. 2) at 10 a.m. Thursday, followed by Bloomsburg (East No. 2) vs. Indiana (Pa.) (West No. 3) at noon.  KU will face the winner of the ESU/Cal game at 2:30, followed by Lock Haven (West No. 1) vs. the winner of Bloomsburg/IUP at 4:30.
            The schedule continues with four-games Friday beginning at 10 a.m., and up to three on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m.  Tickets are $7 for adults for all-day passes, while current students at PSAC member institutions will be admitted free with a valid ID.
At stake in the tournament is the PSAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Championship tournament.
Kutztown is led by a strong offense and a deep pitching staff.  KU enters the tournament with a .311 team batting average and a 1.71 team earned-run average.  The Golden Bears set a single-season record with 44 wins, finishing the regular season 44-10 overall, 21-3 in the PSAC East. The Division title was the second straight and third overall for head coach Judy Lawes.
This is Kutztown's fifth-straight PSAC Playoff appearance and the 13th for Lawes. In last season's PSAC tournament, KU finished as the runner up. KU has finished as the runner-up on four occasions (1988, 1989, 1996, 2007).
The offense is led by the trio of C/SS Ashley Fitzgerald (jr. Kitchener, Ont/Resurrection), 1B Steph Denlinger (jr. Harleysville/Souderton) and 3B Krista Cameron (jr. Formosa, Ont./Sacred Heart).  Fitzgerald leads the PSAC in batting average (.456) and shares the league lead in RBIs (54).  She has 14 homers and a KU single-season record 23 RBIs.  Denlinger is hitting .362, with a PSAC-best 15 home runs and 53 RBIs.  She has been walked 39 times.  Cameron is hitting .341 with five homers and 35 RBIs.
Second baseman Kim Morrison (jr. Newmarket, Ont./Sir William Mulock) and short stop Krista Tedjeske (fr. Summerhill/Forest Hills) complete the infield.  Morrison is hitting .290 with three homers and 16 RBIs, while Tedjeske is hitting .258 with two homers and 21 RBIs.  Caitlin Hague (sr. Lansdale/North Penn) has 35 starts, at catcher/designated player, and is hitting .272 with a homer and 12 RBIs.
The outfield consists of Maria Schiavo (so. Old Forge/Old Forge) (320, 17 RBI), Kathy Gregg (sr. Narvon/Garden Spot) (.312, 6 HR, 21 RBI) and Maggie Reifsnyder (fr. Philadelphia/Little Flower) (.278, 4 HR, 10 RBI).
Katlin Arbogast (so. Ambler/Wissahickon) is the ace of the pitching staff. She is 22-6 with a 1.47 earned-run average.  She has struck out 217 batters in 162.0 innings pitched.  Monica Glomb (fr. Mars/Mars) and Mary Hoch (fr. Somerton/St. Hubert) have been a welcome addition to the staff.  Glomb is 10-4 with a  2.02 ERA, striking out 99 in 100.2 innings.  Hoch is 9-0 with a 1.61 ERA and 47 Ks in 69.2 innings.
Below are capsules of the other five teams.
Bloomsburg (East No. 2, 44-7, 19-5 PSAC East) will be looking to claim its 15th PSAC championship this week when it travels to Lock Haven for the conference tournament. The Huskies, 44-7, will be looking for their first PSAC title since 2002.  Bloomsburg is led offensively by junior Tara Reed who is hitting .423 with a homer and 29 RBI, and freshman Lacy Mauro who is batting .403 with 25 RBI. In the circle, Bloomsburg's 1-2 punch is led by Ashley Lynn who has a 20-3 record with a 0. 94 ERA and Sheelin Fisher who is 15-2 with a 0.98 ERA.
California (Pa.) (West No. 2, 26-14, 12-8 PSAC West), since 1994 has been a staple at the PSAC softball tournament and this year will be no different as Rick Bertagnolli led the 2008 Vulcans to their 15th straight PSAC tournament.  The 2008 Vulcans are led by the arms of Sonia Petrosoniak and Maria Greco who combined for 168 strikeouts, and have allowed only 25 earned runs in 177.1 innings. Offensively, California is let by Julie Mackenzie and Nicole Bellavance who have combined for 71 hits, and 41 RBIs.  California looks to return to their PSAC dominance that led the Vulcans to 11 straight PSAC West titles, and 11 straight NCAA Tournament Berths.
East Stroudsburg (East No. 3, 17-28, 1-13 PSAC East) is making its second straight PSAC softball tournament appearance after last qualifying for postseason play in 1981. The Warriors are led by senior pitcher Kristen Halvorsen, who has started 11 of the last 12 games, and has a 13-15 record with a 2.19 ERA. Three players are hitting better than .300 this season in senior 1B Ali Hale (.317), senior C/DH Eliza Morosco (.316) and freshman 2B/DH Brittany Racek (.315). Hale and senior 3B Candice Pastor lead the Warriors with 17 runs batted in, and Racek has scored a team-high 24 runs.\
Indiana (Pa.) (West No. 3, 16-24, 12-8 PSAC West) is in the PSAC tournament for the fourth time in the past six years and eighth time since 1998.  IUP advanced to the championship game in 2001 but is still seeking its first conference title.  The Crimson Hawk pitching staff is headed by redshirt freshman Erin Holloway, who set a school record this season with 187 strikeouts.  She had 18 against Clarion to tie the PSAC record and post the second most ever by a Division II pitcher in a seven inning game.  Kristen Tunno is the leading hitter with a .345 average while Sam Goettman paces the team with 23 RBIs.  IUP is the only team to defeat Lock Haven in PSAC West play this season with a 10-inning 2-1 win on April 15.
            Lock Haven (West No. 1, 38-6, 17-1 PSAC West), for the third time in as many seasons,  enters the PSAC tournament as the top seed. LHU is currently manning down the No. 3 spot on the most recent National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, as they trail Barry and Angelo State. At the plate, the trio of Sarah Norris, Amanda Roosa and Erica Eisenbise make Lock Haven's offense the fourth most potent in the conference. Junior hurler Kristin Erb is slowly making her way to the top of nearly every conference and national list as she boasts a 34-6 record with a .34 ERA and 323 strikeouts coming into this weekends' tournament.
Results of Kutztown's games will be available at www.kubears.com<http://www.kubears.com>.


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Josh Leiboff
Kutztown University Sports Information
Phone: (610) 683-4182
Fax: (610) 683-4676
Email: leiboff at kutztown.edu
Website: http://www.kubears.com
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