Behrend Softball Team Wins Second Straight AMCC Championship

The Penn State Behrend softball team made it back-to-back championships when the Behrend Lions captured the 2009 AMCC Softball Championship with a 2-0 win over Frostburg on Sunday, May 3 at the Behrend softball field.

Behrend took the title with its third tournament win in as many days, going 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament with wins over Pitt-Greensburg, Mt. Aloysius, and Frostburg State.  #6 seed Frostburg lost its first game of the tournament on Friday, but rebounded with four straight elimination game wins to reach the championship round.

Both starting pitchers, Emma Hahn (Smethport/Smethport) for Behrend and Megan Magee for Frostburg, had it going early.  Hahn threw four strikeouts in the first two innings of play, while Magee retired the first 11 batters she faced, taking a perfect game into the fourth inning.  Behrend's Ashley Gruber (Burton, OH/Berkshire) reached on an error and Nikki Kaschauer followed with the first hit for Behrend, but the game went to the fifth with no score.

Hahn continued throwing heat, striking out two more in the fifth inning and keeping the Bobcats off the scoreboard.  In the bottom of the inning Behrend finally got to Magee as Amy Greene (Erie/Strong Vincent) led off with a double.  Greene advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and was there with two outs when hot-hitting Lia Sorce (Glenshaw/Shaler) stepped to the plate.  Sorce singled, scoring Greene and was then driven in by Katie Whitby's (Tyrone/Tyrone) double as Behrend went up 2-0.

Frostburg tried to rally in the sixth, getting runners to the corners with two outs but Hahn got a ground out to end the inning.  Frostburg again got runners on in the seventh.  After two walks and a wild pitch, the Bobcats had runners on second and third with two outs.  Behrend responded by bringing in ace Julie Koman (McKees Rocks/Montour) who got a fly ball to shut the door on Frostburg and start the celebration for the Behrend Lions.

Hahn got the win, firing ten strikeouts against five walks with two hits and no runs in six and two-thirds innings.  Sorce accounted for the game-winning hit and went 1-for-2 in the game.  She had the top batting average in the AMCC Tournament, going 5-for-7 (.714) with three RBIs and made several solid defensive plays in right field.

Behrend will now await word from the NCAA on where and when they will be playing after earning the AMCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.