No. 20 West Chester Gets Past Seton Hill, 8-0

Box Score

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – Jr., left-hander Amanda Houck (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) threw a complete-game shutout, and West Chester University's bats came alive, as the Golden Rams stopped Seton Hill, 8-0 in six innings, in the second round of the 2017 PSAC Softball Tournament at Veterans Park Thursday.
 
West Chester (42-10) advances to the semifinals of the tournament and will play Bloomsburg in a winner's bracket final for the right to advance to the conference championship series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night. The tournament schedule has changed due to the impending weather expected on Friday.
 
The Golden Rams battered three Griffins pitchers for eight runs on 11 hits over six innings, including three home runs. Madison Kelly (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) led off the game with a home run. Fr., 3B Courtney Stump (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) then hit her first college homer in the second, and Alyssa Herion (Avon Grove, Pa./Avon Grove ) followed with a grand slam in the fourth.
 
Sara Ercolani (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) ended the game in the sixth when she hit a sacrifice fly that plated Monica Twardowski (Boothwyn, Pa./Padua Academy) with the winning run.
 
"Everybody is a year older. They are using that maturity," WCU head coach Diane Lokey said. "But, I told them (in the hotel) before we came over (to the field), just play. Don't worry about things you can't control. Play and have fun. That's what is seems they have been doing.
 
"This was our best quality at bats all year. We are excited to see that. But, it goes back to just playing the game and having fun."
 
Houck scattered four hits over six innings for the shutout. She struck out two and did not walk a batter.
 
"(Houck) is a fighter and never gives up. She has looked awesome in this tournament," junior catcher Cat Hammer (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) said afterwards.
 
West Chester is 2-0 in the conference tournament for the first time since 2015 and has reached the semifinals for the fourth time in the last five years. The Golden Rams are 8-10 in the PSAC Tournament since this format was adopted in 2012.
 
Bloomsburg defeated Gannon in the other winner's bracket semifinal, setting up a showdown at 7:30 p.m. with the Golden Rams.