Cougars Fall Short; Eliminated From NCAA Tournament

By Ryan Gaydos
@KUTowerSports

Heart breaking.

That is the only word to describe the 1-0 loss that the Kean University softball team suffered at the hands of Susquehanna Saturday. The Crusaders put one run on the board in the top of the seventh inning to win the game. A Briana Murphy sacrifice fly scored Amanda Neveroski with the bases loaded to give Susquehanna the go-ahead run and eventually the win.

Courtney Yard and her counterpart Sarah Hoffman were locked in a pitcher’s duel the entire game. Yard’s only mistakes came in the seventh inning when she loaded the bases and allowed the only run to score. She struck out seven in the complete game loss and finishes the season with a 19-15 record.

Hoffman lasted 4 2/3 innings and only walked two batters and allowed three hits. She was relieved by Ashley Cole who shut down the Cougars with two outs in the fifth. Cole picked up the win as she did not allow and Cougars’ batter to reach base against her. Cole is 15-3 this season.

Megan Cegielski, Casey Glatts and Kelsey Hannan were the only batters to conjure hits against the Crusaders.

Kean finishes the season on a high note. They made it to the NJAC finals and won a tournament game. Head coach Maggie Acker has to be pleased with the way the season turned out and could not be more happy with the way the softball team performed this season.

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