Softball
2009 PSAC Championships
 

FIRST ROUND   Tournament Main Page PSAC Softball Home Page | PSAC Softball Preview KU Softball Home Page Rankings: Regional | National Schedule/results    CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND Schedule

East First Round Tournament
Friday-Saturday, April 24-25, 2009
North Campus Field - Kutztown, Pa.

KUTZTOWN, Pa. — The Kutztown University softball team will begin its run for the school’s first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament title when the Golden Bears host one of three first round tournaments Friday and Saturday.

Steph Denlinger

Each division winner earned the right to host the first round tournaments. Lock Haven won the PSAC Central and California won the PSAC West. The winners of each tournament will qualify for the PSAC Championship round at the highest remaining seed.

For the first round, the Golden Bears will welcome in Edinboro (24-17), the No. 2 team in the PSAC West, and Mansfield (14-18), the No. 3 team in the PSAC Central.

Edinboro and Mansfield will open up play at 11 a.m. Friday, and the winner will advance to the 1 p.m. game against KU (41-8-1).

Game 3 on Friday will be an elimination game, placing the two losers against each other at 3 p.m.

KU's game at 1 p.m. will be available via audio Webcast on the Golden Bear Network. If KU plays in Game 3 on Friday, that game also will be available on the Golden Bear Network.

KU enters the tournament ranked second in the Atlantic Region and 10th in the nation. The Golden Bears are coming off of their third straight PSAC East title.

The four seniors have played a major role in all three titles.

Steph Denlinger (sr. Harleysville/Souderton) leads the Golden Bears, batting .434 with 12 doubles, 20 homers, 58 RBIs and 63 runs scored. With her 20 home runs, she now has 76 in her career, an NCAA Division II record. The first baseman also broke the NCAA Division II record for walks in a career. Her 29 walks this season pushed her career total to 152.

Third baseman Krista Cameron (sr. Formosa, ONTARIO/Sacred Heart) is second in batting with a .378 average. She has 15 doubles and nine home runs, including three in a 17-10 win over East Stroudsburg. She hit two home runs in one inning for the Golden Bears. Cameron has 47 RBIs and 26 runs scored. She also has a team-best five triples.

Last year’s PSAC East Player of the Year, catcher Ashley Fitzgerald (sr. Kitchener, ONTARIO/Resurrection), is batting .368 with 12 doubles, 11 homers, 40 RBIs and 32 runs scored.

Kim Morrison (sr. Newmarket, ONTARIO /Sir William Mulock) rounds out KU’s .300 hitters with a .322 batting average. She has nine doubles, a triple, four homers, 13 RBIs and 36 runs scored. The second baseman also leads the team in sacrifice hits with 16.

Katlin Arbogast

On the mound, Katlin Arbogast (jr. Ambler/Wissahickon) and Mary Hoch (so. Somerton/St. Hubert) have been a solid 1-2 punch for the Golden Bears.

Arbogast is 18-5 on the season with 16 complete games and six shutouts. She has a 1.39 ERA over 161 2/3 innings pitched. She leads the team in strikeouts with 183 and opponents are batting just .190 off of her.

Hoch has had similar success, going 15-1 with a 1.33 ERA in 89.2 innings of work. She has struck out 78 batters. Hoch has five complete games and two shutouts.

Monica Glomb (so. Mars/Mars) rounds out the pitching staff with an 8-2 record. She’s thrown six complete game and three shutouts. She also threw a no-hitter against Lake Erie on March 2.

The no-hitter was overshadowed by the milestone reached by KU head coach Judy Lawes. The 14-0 win was the 600th of her 22-year career. Lawes has had a winning year in every one of her 22 seasons at KU. She has led the Golden Bears to a record of 636-370-2, which ranks among the top 25 active Division II coaches.