Beaver crushes PSUAC foe, finishes fifth at USCAA National Tournament

Bert DeSalvo, staff writer

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Akron, OH - The Penn State Beaver Lady Lions softball team finished their season on a high note with a win over #6 seed Penn State Mont Alto (Mont Alto, PA), 9-1, in five innings.

The Lady Lions used a total team effort to defeat the PSUAC Champions for the third time this season.

Beaver senior Kayla Chambers (South Side Beaver High School/Hookstown, PA) took the mound for the last time in her storied career, and she was sharp from the outset, striking out the first batter of the game and retiring Mont Alto in order in the first inning.

Beaver took a 1-0 lead in the second as Alyssa Carver (New Brighton High School/New Brighton, PA) led the inning off with a single and was driven home by Danielle Ringel (Sto-Rox High School/Kennedy Township, PA).

Mont Alto returned the favor when they scored an unearned run off a Beaver fielding error which was their only run of the game.

Beaver exploded for eight runs on seven hits as twelve Beaver batters were sent to the plate in the third inning. Back-to-back doubles by USCAA All-American Ashley Watkins (Seneca Valley High School/Cranberry Township, PA) and USCAA All-American Honorable Mention Kori Freyermuth (Perry Traditional Academy/Pittsburgh, PA) set the tone for Beaver as they had their best offensive inning of the tournament.

Chambers provided her team with "one more" memorable performance as Beaver cruised to an easy 9-1 win in 5 innings via the mercy rule. In her final collegiate appearance, Chambers pitched five innings, allowed no earned runs, struck out four, and walked just two batters.

Beaver had eight different players gather at least one hit, had four players with a  two-hit game, and had seven different players with one RBI.

For the tournament, Beaver outscored its opponents by a 21-20 margin, although Beaver was outscored, 11-0, in the sixth inning. The team's batting average was a solid .310 (third best in the tournament) while the team's ERA was a respectable 3.36.

Freshman Myranda Raymond (Brashear High School/Pittsburgh, PA) and Watkins each batted .500. Raymond had a team-high seven RBIs, and Watkins had a team-high of ten total bases. On the mound, both Chambers (1-0) and Freyermuth (1-1) pitched 11 innings, with Freyermuth allowing a team best .326 batting average and 0.64 ERA (second best in the tournament). Chambers led the team with four strikeouts and three appearances.

Beaver finished the season with a 23-13 overall record and 14-2 in the PSUAC. The women were undefeated in the PSUAC regular season and earned the PSUAC regular season title. Beaver had impressive NCAA Division III non-conference wins over Penn State Altoona, Penn State Berks, Franciscan University, Spalding University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Thiel College. 

Beaver also finished fifth in the 2011 USCAA National Softball Championships held at historic Firestone Stadium in Akron, OH.