PHILADELPHIA, PA – The York College softball squad survived a pair of elimination games to advance to Saturday's MAC Commonwealth championship games against Eastern in Philadelphia.
The Spartans outlasted fourth-seeded Alvernia 2-1 in 14 innings in their opener. The Green and White then downed second-seeded Messiah 5-3 in their second elimination game of the day.
The Spartans improve to 26-17 overall while Alvernia sees their season come to a close at 23-16. Messiah ends their campaign with a record of 28-15.
 
ALVERNIA GAME
Runs: York 2 – Alvernia 1
Hits: York 10; Alvernia 9
Errors: York 0; Alvernia 1
LOB: York 15; Alvernia 11
WP: Natalie Rietema (11-8); LP: Maggie Loomis (14-6)
 
How It Happened
• The teams had chances through the opening seven innings of play. However, both starters, York's Kyrsten Coppage and Alvernia's Maggie Loomis were able to navigate all traffic as the teams headed to extra innings.
• In the bottom of the eighth, the Spartans got runners on second and third with two outs. Alexis McDonaugh hit a rocket to short that was snagged by Taylor McClain to keep the game scoreless.
• After a quiet ninth inning, both teams had one runner each in the tenth but neither team was close to scoring in the inning. The two sides went in order in the 11^th but the 12^th inning provided some action. The Golden Wolves had a double and a walk in the top of the inning and moved up 60 feet with a two-out wild pitch. Coppage got a pop up to end the threat. York got runners to second and third with two outs in the bottom of the inning, however Alvernia got out of the jam with a pop out.
• The Golden Wolves got a sacrifice fly from McClain in the top of the 13^th to get on the board. The Spartans tied the game on an Alvernia error as Emma Wade scored the tying run.
• Spartan reliever Natalie Rietema surrendered a single in the top of the 14^th and then struck out the side to give York the chance to win it in the bottom of the frame. After the Golden Wolves got the first two outs of the inning, Gretchen Barstad doubled to center. She moved to third base on a wild pitch and then Daphney Adams drew a walk. Wade, the national leader in RBI's with 71, came to the plate. Loomis threw the first three pitches out of the zone as it looked like Alvernia was going to pitch around Wade. She threw the next two pitches in the zone that Wade took for strikes. The next pitch was the last one of the game as Wade drove the ball to right field for the game-winning single.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Emma Wade: 3-for-7, run, RBI, 2B
Gretchen Barstad: 2-for-6, run, BB, 2B, SB
Morgan Sauers: 1-for-6
Daphney Adams: 1-for-5, 2 BB
 
Spartan Pitching
Kyrsten Coppage: 12.2 IP, 8 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 7 K, 3 BB, 2 WP, HB
Natalie Rietema: 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 K (Win, 11-8)
 
MESSIAH GAME
Runs: York 5 – Messiah 3
Hits: York 6; Messiah 11
Errors: York 2; Messiah 2
LOB: York 6; Messiah 11
WP: Natalie Rietema (12-8); LP: Fallon Feaser (10-3)
 
How It Happened
• The Falcons got on the board in the bottom of the third inning on an Allie Book RBI single. It could have been worse as the Falcons left the bases loaded.
• The Spartans got everything they needed in the top of the fourth. Gretchen Barstad led off the inning with a single. After a strikeout, Emma Wade reached on an error, moving Barstad to second. Alexis McDonaugh walked to load the bases for the Green and White. Bri McKeown scored Barstad on a fielder's choice, tying the game at one. Emma Keller ripped an RBI single up the middle to give York the 2-1 lead. A fielder's choice cut McDonaugh down at the plate for the second out of the inning. Rylee Dreyer drew a bases loaded walk for the third run of the frame. Morgan Sauers closed out the scoring as she singled up the middle to score Olivia Turchi while Kylee Paules came around to score on an error.
• The Falcons cut into the Spartan lead in the sixth. Paige Eakes got the first run of the frame on an RBI single to left. Elianna Litwin then came around to score on a wild pitch, slicing the Spartan led to 5-3.
• The Falcons got the tying run to second and winning run to the plate with two outs in the seventh but Natalie Rietema closed out the win by getting a ground out to second to end the game.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Morgan Sauers: 2-for-4, RBI
Gretchen Barstad: 2-for-4, run
Emma Wade: 1-for-4, run
Emma Keller: 1-for-1, RBI
 
Spartan Pitching
Natalie Rietema: 7.0 IP, 11 hits, 3 runs, 2 ER, 2 K, 3 BB, 2 WP, HB (Win, 12-8)
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans won two of three this year against Alvernia as they are now 10-8 all-time against the Golden Wolves … the Spartans picked up their first win this year against the Falcons as they are now 23-32 against Messiah … York has ended Messiah's season in each of the last two years … the victory over Messiah was the 100^th in the Spartan career of head coach Kaitlyn Dulac … Dulac is now 100-65 in five years at the helm of the program … in the win over Alvernia, York was 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and were 3-for-21 with runners on base … York left a season-high 15 runners on in the game … in the Messiah game, York was 2-for-4 with the bases loaded while they were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position … York was 1-for-8 with two outs while they were 4-for-7 in leading off innings … sophomore Natalie Rietema has won her last three decisions as she has thrown 15.1 innings, allowing four runs on 14 hits with nine strikeouts and just four walks … first year Spartan Kyrsten Coppage was outstanding in game one as she set a career high with 12.2 innings as she allowed one run on eight hits with seven strikeouts … Emma Wade now has a 72 RBIs for the year as she leads the Commonwealth and also owns the top mark in Division III … Gretchen Barstad had two more multi-hit games as she leads the team with 23 multi-hit games for the year … Emma Wade notched her 18^th multi-hit game of the year in game one … Morgan Sauers recorded her ninth multi-hit game in the nightcap … Barstad extended her current hit streak to 12, the longest current streak and also their longest streak of the year.
 
Up Next
The Spartans have a tall task on Saturday as they face the top seeded Eastern University Eagles on Saturday. York must win two games to capture the championship as the Eagles are undefeated in the tournament. The two teams split in the regular season with the Eagles winning game one 4-2 followed by a 5-3 Spartan victory. Game one is set for 2:00 pm and game two, if necessary, will follow at 4:00 pm.