DENVER – Senior Abbie Murrell (Scarborough, Maine) drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, propelling the nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College softball team to a 3-2 victory over West Chester University of Pennsylvania on Thursday at the NCAA Division II Softball National Championship.
Saint Anselm opens the eight-team National Championship with a victory, moving to 33-5 on the season. The Hawks will play once again on Friday, taking on an opponent to be determined at 1:30 p.m. MDT, 3:30 p.m. EST. West Chester drops to 34-15 on the season and will look to stave off elimination tomorrow.
In the bottom of the seventh inning and the score tied at two, sophomore Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.) led off with a hard-hit ball to the third baseman that was not corralled. Senior Kat Stackrow (Wynantskill, N.Y.) advanced Fitzpatrick to second base with a bunt that was nearly misplayed by the West Chester infield.
Moving to third base on a wild pitch with one out, Fitzpatrick came around to score on a Murrell line drive to right field that came on a 1-2 count. The Hawks now own a 5-2 overall record at the National Championship, finishing as the national runner-up in 2018 and starting off their 2021 title run with a walk-off victory.
In the bottom of the first inning, junior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) stroked a booming home run over the center field fence to put the Hawks on the scoreboard, 1-0. The Hawks did not muster much offense in the middle innings, but did see a gap double struck by Stackrow to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning.
While the Hawks were somewhat stymied by West Chester pitcher Jen Hanshaw, the Golden Rams tied the game at one in the top of the fourth. Madison Melvin led off the stanza with a bunt single to third before swiping second to get in scoring position. The big hit of the game to that point for West Chester came off the bat of Jaime Klemas, whose double to right-center field on a 3-1 count brought the game even.
West Chester tacked on another run in the next inning, using a lead-off single to center field by Annamarie Hartman that came on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Moving over to second base following a sacrifice, the next Golden Rams batter reached on an infield bunt single to third base. Bri Garber lofted a sacrifice fly to center field with one out to produce the go-ahead run for West Chester.
Leading by one run in the bottom of the sixth, West Chester recorded two quick outs before Klaiber stepped to the plate. On a 2-0 count, Klaiber hit her second home run of the game to dead center once again, dramatically tying the game at two heading into the seventh inning. In her last seven games, spanning the Northeast-10 and NCAA postseasons, she has struck six home runs.
Hawks starter Morgan Perry (Bethany, Conn.) kept her team in the game, retiring West Chester in order after giving up a lead-off single to Haleigh Karcher in the top of the seventh. Perry finished the game with five strikeouts, moving to 20-1 on the season after walking just one batter and conceding only five hits.
Hanshaw drew the loss, falling to 19-5 on the year after allowing three runs and striking out just three batters on the day.
