PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The West Chester University softball team is about to start the final gauntlet in their season, the NCAA Division II National Championships in Denver, Colorado.
The seventh-seeded Golden Rams will take on second-seed Saint Anselm on Thursday in their first game of the double-elimination championship tournament.
“It’s been an amazing month of May for us, and we are super excited to be here again,” West Chester head coach Diane Lokey said.
West Chester got here by winning the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Tournament, winning four straight games in the process and beating East Stroudsburg in the regional title game.
This was the third straight Atlantic Regional title for West Chester and the fourth overall in program history.
“Our senior pitcher Jen Hanshaw had four strong outings and then we just continued to hit the ball and play defense,” Lokey said about what allowed her team to run the table in the regional.
“That’s what we needed to do to have success and we’ve been doing it well.”
The Golden Rams really can hit. West Chester scores an average of 7.6 runs a game. They have a .362 team batting average, and every player who has at least 50 at bats has an average above .300.
In the first game against Saint Anselm, that lineup will be put to the test against a pitching staff that has a collective 0.77 ERA.
“We’re expecting to face a dominant pitcher,” Lokey said. “So we’ll be preparing for that.”
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The Golden Rams are one of just eight teams still standing in the chase for a national championship. Lokey said they know what they need to do to get to the finish line.
“We’re going to have to take care of the ball defensively,, and we’re going to have to continue to score runs.”
West Chester’s first game against Saint Anselm will get underway at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.