Seton Hill softball, baseball teams win NCAA regional games

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, May 19, 2022 | 6:52 PM

The Seton Hill softball team moved a game closer to qualifying for the NCAA Division II World Series on Thursday by defeating host Kutztown, 7-0, in the Atlantic Super Regional Championship.

Morgan Ryan, the Notre Dame transfer who played at Hempfield, threw a six-hit shutout and helped her cause with an RBI hit. She walked none and struck out five. It was her 17th win of the season and her sixth shutout.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is 1 p.m. Friday at Kutztown.

Seton Hill (40-10) scored seven runs in the fourth inning to take command.

Brooke Clelland (Penn-Trafford) started the rally with a single. After Grace Paredes walked, both runners were sacrificed up a base by Nina Grandey.

Mackenzie Zang then delivered a two-run single. Jenna Osikowicz (Hempfield) reached on an error, and Ryan singled home Zang for a 3-0 lead. Brooklyn Fukuhima had a two-run hit, and Clelland and Paredes later added RBI hits.

Osikowicz and Clelland had two hits apiece.

It was Seton Hill’s first game in the Super Regional.

Seton Hill baseball rolls

During the regular season, Slippery Rock defeated Seton Hill all four times.

The Rock started the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional at West Chester by opening a two-run lead. They wouldn’t score again as the Griffins (32-17-1) rolled to a 10-2 victory.

Seton Hill will play at 11 a.m. Friday against either West Chester or Slippery Rock.

The Griffins scored five times in the third inning, added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings and iced the win with a three-run seventh.

Seton Hill recorded 19 hits, including four by Neal McDermott (Greensburg Central Catholic) and three each by Braden Durham and Vincenzo Rauso. McDermott, Rauso, Owen Sabol (Norwin) and Jack Oberdorf (Greensburg Salem) had two RBIs each. Oberdorf had two hits, including a double, and Sabol homered.

A trio of pitchers, Brandon Bergert, Marshall McGraw and Ian Korn, limited Slippery Rock to eight hits.

Pitcher Nash Bryan and Oberdorf were named to the All-Atlantic Region team. Bryan was named to the first team and Oberdorf to the second team.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Norwin, Penn-Trafford