Game Notes
CHARLESTON, W.V.- After winning its fifth in a row and ninth in the last 10 games, the West Chester University softball team (35-20) has shifted its attention to its next NCAA Tournament matchup vs third-seeded Charleston (W.V.) on Friday at noon.

The second-seeded Goden Rams opened the NCAA Tournament with a convincing 4-0 victory over the seventh-seeded Golden Knights of Gannon on Thursday behind a stellar pitching performance from Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon), a three-run home run by Paige Marabell (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) and an RBI double by Emma Zoldi (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) in what was a big fourth inning for the Purple and Gold.

FAN INFORMATION

Charleston has launched a Tournament Central page, which is available here (all links will be added when they are made available). It includes links for live stats and video for fans who cannot make the trip to West Virginia to support the Golden Rams.

All tickets for fans traveling to West Virginia are general admission, with prices set at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, children, and students. Children under the age of two will be admitted free of charge. Tickets are only sold at the field, and all sales are cash only.

The softball field is located at 3511 Venable Avenue in Charleston, West Virginia 25304. For parking, fans should follow signage at the complex and may park directly next to the softball facility or in the community center parking lot. Fans are not permitted to park in the Charleston Area Medical Center Oncology lot; any vehicles parked in this lot will be subject to towing. Fans are also advised of a free shuttle service, which will run from the Innovation Center on the campus of the University of Charleston.

SERIES INFORMATION

Despite playing in a Regional Pod hosted by Charleston in 2016, tomorrow's matchup will be the first NCAA Tournament battle between the Golden Rams and Golden Eagles and just the third all-time between the two regional foes. West Chester has never faced Charleston north of Florida, facing the Golden Eagles in 2015 and 2016 during Spring Break in the Sunshine State. West Chester dropped both Spring Break meetings to Charleston, falling by a 4-3 final in March 2015 and a 6-5 final in March 2016.

Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008, West Chester is 10-7 vs Mountain East Conference foes, including victories in three of the last four such meetings.

THE REGIONAL

West Cheser and Charleston both opened the Charleston Regional with shutout victories on Thursday afternoon, dispatching Gannon and Bloomsburg by 4-0 and 3-0 finals. With that, West Chester and Charleston will meet in the winners-bracket final tomorrow at 12 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Pod Championship on Saturday, while Gannon and Bloomsburg will do battle at 2:30 p.m. to try and stay alive in the Regional. The winner of that 2:30 game will have little time to rest as they will be back in action against a rested team from earlier in the day. The loser of the WCU/Charleston game will play in that elimination game, with the winner advancing to the Pod final on Saturday.

In the other half of the regional at East Stroudsburg, ESU opened with a dominant 11-0 victory over eight-seeded Bowie State on Friday morning before Kutztown defeated Shippensburg by a 4-2 final in the second game of the day at Creekview Park.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

WCU 4 GANNON 0 BOX SCORE GALLERY
West Chester found itself locked in a pitchers duel with the PSAC West regular-season champion Gannon Golden Knights early on Thursday afternoon as the game went scoreless to the bottom of the fourth. In the fourth, West Chester scored four runs on four hits, none bigger than a towering three-run home run from Marabell and an RBI double off the fence by Zoldi later in the inning to take a commanding lead. One run would've been enough for Ciliberto on Thursday afternoon as the sophomore was dominant, scattering just five hits while striking out a pair to improve to 22-8 on the year. Ciliberto allowed four hits through her first three innings, surrendering two in the first and one each in the second and third, but settled into a groove from this point, keeping the Golden Knights off balance and off the basepaths into the seventh. In the seventh, Gannon led off the frame with a single through the left side, sneaking the ball just past an outstretched Grace Aguilar (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest), but Ciliberto was unmoved, retiring her next three via ground balls to secure the NCAA Tournament opening victory.

UCWV 3 BLOOMSBURG 0 BOX SCORE
Charleston fans will tell a similar story about their first victory of the NCAA Tournament as Brianna McCown (31-3) was sharp in the circle, holding Bloomsburg to just one hit and one walk as she successfully kept the potent Husky offense off balance throughout the afternoon. Offensively, Charleston snuck its first run of the game across in the fourth via a wild pitch before tacking on two more runs in the fifth with a two-run home run to left to take a 3-0 lead that the Golden Eagles would never relinquish. Callie Sowers dropped to 23-7 in the circle, allowing three runs on five hits while walking a pair and striking out three in the NCAA Tournament opening defeat.

ABOUT THE FLOCK

MELVIN NAMED ALL-REGION

Madison Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca), who went 2-for-4 at the plate today with her 44^th stolen base of the year on just 47 attempts, was named to the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region squad for the fourth time in her career this afternoon, earning Second Team All-Region honors amid another outstanding season for West Chester. Melvin enters Friday afternoon as the team leader in batting average (.418), hits (82), runs (55), and stolen bases (44). Melvin is also the Division II softball active-career leader in both hits and stolen bases while ranking second in career runs scored.

CLUTCH CILIBERTO

Ciliberto continued her dominant start to the postseason on Thursday as the sophomore twirled her fourth complete game in five starts and improved to 5-0 in the circle this postseason while moving to 22-8 on the year with her effort against Gannon. The sophomore, who became West Chester's first 20-game winner since Amanda Houck in 2018 in Quakertown a week ago, matched Devon Utterback's 22-win season in 2013 for the fifth most wins in a single season by a Golden Ram pitcher in team history. Today's shutout is the fourth of the year for Ciliberto, and it is her 15th complete game of the year as she lowered her season ERA to 2.25 and her opp. batting average against to .235.

FEELS LIKE 2017

West Chester (5-0) is off to its best start to the postseason since 2017, when the team won each of its first six postseason games en route to a Super Regional appearance.

FIRE IT UP PURP

West Chester's offense has found another gear in the postseason. The Golden Rams are outscoring opponents 41-15 through five postseason games, including a 12-1 victory against Seton Hill to start the PSAC Tournament and its first shutout of the year against Gannon earlier today.

POWER SURGE

West Chester has hit at least one home run in every game so far this postseason, with the last time the team did not homer in a game coming in the regular-season finale at Shepherd (L, 4-3; 11). West Chester is 19-2 when hitting a home run this season and a perfect 12-0 when hitting two or more after today's victory.

SCOUTING CHARLESTON

Tomorrow's winner's bracket final will pit a pair of Conference Champions against one another. Charleston earned the Automatic Bid out of the Mountain East after racing to an MEC crown a week ago, capturing its second consecutive Mountain East Tournament title. The Golden Eagles are 46-4 on the year and riding a six-game winning streak entering play on Friday evening. Additionally, the hosts, who will serve as the visiting team on the scoreboard tomorrow, are 21-1 at home this year, with their lone home loss coming in game two of a doubleheader vs Concord on March 30.

Offensively, Charleston has four players who bat north of .300 during the year, with Hannah Rose leading the group at .481 during the season with 76 hits, including 23 extra-base hits, while scoring 68 runs and driving 32 more. Isabella Andujar and Allysa Lake are two of the top power threats in the Atlantic Region and rank among the top players in DII softball in home runs, belting 17 and 14, respectively. As one might expect, with 17 home runs, Andujar leads the team in RBI with 56 on the year while batting .379 with an OPS of 1.260, which is second-best on the team.

If teams are able to slow down the potent Charleston offense, that seems only to be half the battle, as the Golden Eagles' pitching staff holds opponents to a .189 batting-average against, led by McCown, who is 31-3 on the year with a 1.52 ERA, .83 WHIP, and a .185 batting-average against while striking out 253 batters on the year and yielding just 35 extra-base hits (25 doubles, three triples, seven home runs). Chloe Elliott has been the other top option in the circle for the Golden Eagles this year, going a perfect 9-0 with a 1.33 ERA, a .94 WHIP, and a .218 batting-average against.