ANNVILLE, PA – York College freshman pitcher Natalie Rietema twirled a shutout in Thursday's MAC Commonwealth elimination game against Stevenson as York remained alive in the tournament with a 3-0 win. Rietema scattered six singles as she earned her fifth shutout of the year to keep the Green and White going in the tournament. The Spartans, who had lost earlier on Thursday to Messiah, will face Eastern University on Friday in another elimination game.
 
MAC Tournament Game #4
Records: York 19-19; Stevenson 18-18
Runs: York 3; Stevenson 0
Hits: York 5; Stevenson 6
Errors: York 0; Stevenson 0
WP: Natalie Rietema (10-9); LP: Marissa Heuer (11-8)
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans and Mustangs were scoreless through the first three innings of the game as both starters were strong. The Mustangs loaded the bases in the first but Natalie Rietema got out of the jam with a foul out to left. The next nine hitters in the game were retired in order before Stevenson's McKenzie Tobler reached on a single. Rietema got the next three outs to render the single harmless.
• Stevenson starter Marissa Heuer was perfect through three innings as she set nine Spartans down in a row. That changed in the fourth as Taylor Coon stayed hot with a single to center. Morgan Sauers sacrificed Coon to second but Sauers reached on a Mustang error as York had something cooking. The Spartan duo moved up 60 feet each on a wild pitch. However, Heuer buckled down and struck out the Spartans' three and four hitters as the golden opportunity looked like it would pass harmlessly. Senior Kaela Fritz came up huge with a two-run single to left to put York up 2-0.
• The Mustangs got a pair of runners on in the sixth but Rietema got a line out to third to end the threat. York got a big insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Coon singled, moved to second on Sauer's infield single and scored on an Alyssa Harhigh single up the middle. York couldn't add anything further as Heuer set down three straight to leave the two Spartans stranded.
• The three runs were enough for Rietema as the freshman allowed a pair of base runners in the seventh but preserved the shutout with a fielder's choice to end the game.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Taylor Coon: 2-for-3, 2 runs
Kaela Fritz: 1-for-3, 2 RBI
Morgan Sauers: 1-for-2, 1 run
Alyssa Harhigh: 1-for-3, RBI, SB
 
Spartan Pitching
Natalie Rietema: 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 0 runs, 2 K, 3 BB
 
Spartan Notes
York improves to 8-3 all-time in the MAC Commonwealth tournament … the Spartans had never faced Stevenson in the tournament and avenge the two losses they took against the Mustangs during the regular season … York is now 35-10 all-time against Stevenson … senior Taylor Coon had another two hits in the win and she now leads the team with 13 multi-hit games this year … Morgan Sauers extended her team-best hit streak to 16 games … Kaela Fritz notched her third multi-RBI game of the year for the Spartans with her two in the win … Fritz has also reached base safely in each of her last eight games while Emma Keller has reached safely in seven straight … freshman Natalie Rietema has thrown a shutout in each of her last two starts as she is 2-0 with eight hits allowed in 15 innings of action … Rietema and Amanda Criss have each registered five shutouts for the year … York is now 5-5 in neutral site games … York is 9-5 when scoring between three and five runs in a game … York is now 16-3 when holding opponents to two runs or less … York is 9-1 when playing a clean defensive game with zero errors … the win over the Mustangs is the first victory this year when York has been out-hit in a game (1-10) … York is 13-4 when scoring first in a game.
 
Up Next
The Spartans return to tournament play in game six on Friday at 1:00 pm as they square off against Eastern University in an elimination game. The winner of that game will play the loser of the Messiah/Lebanon Valley game in another elimination contest on Friday at 3:00 pm.