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SHIPPENSBURG—Pitcher Cait Paine (Lebanon/Lebanon) tossed a two-hit shutout to lead the Bloomsburg University softball team to a 6-0 win over Shippensburg University in an opening round game of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championships on Friday. With the win the Huskies advance to face Kutztown University on Saturday at 11 a.m. in a winner's bracket game. Kutztown beat West Virginia State, 3-0, in 10 innings on Friday in the other opening round game.
 
The Huskies jumped out on top in the top of the first inning. Mandi Baer (Douglassville/Daniel Boone) reached on an infield single leading off the game. After being bunted over to second, Rachel Fredell (Dingmans Ferry/Delaware Valley) followed with a long home run to left center field giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead. The blast was Fredell's sixth homer of the season.
 
Shippensburg threatened in the bottom of the first inning but did not score. Kiersten Darhower singled to start the inning for the Raiders and Maddie Justice was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. After a ground out moved the runners to second and third with one out, Paine got the next two batters on strikeouts to end the threat.
 
In the second, third and fourth innings there was just one hit between the two teams as both Paine and Shippensburg's Emily Estep matched zeroes on the scoreboard.
 
The Huskies finally added to their lead in the fifth when Erika Yanora (Tunkhannock/Tunkhannock) doubled to lead-off the inning and scored on a two-out single by Baer.
 
Bloomsburg made it 5-0 in the sixth. Fredell got things going by leading off with a walk with Erica Keen (Gordonville/Bishop Shanahan) pinch running for her. Leann Bell (Lanse/West Branch) then walked followed by a Hannah Moir (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape ) single to load the bases. Keen then scored on a wild pitch with the other runners moving up a base. Yanora then delivered a sacrifice fly scoring Bell to make it 5-0.
 
In the seventh the Huskies made it 6-0 when Bell had a bases loaded ground out scoring Baer.
 
Paine was rolling along retiring 19 straight batters till a bad hop single by Taylor Weisman with one out in the seventh snapped the streak. Paine ended the game with a strikeout giving her nine for the game.
 
“It is always good to win your opener,” said Huskies head coach Susan Kocher. “We played a strong defensive game and Cait (Paine) was on her game from the start. We were also able to attack the (Shippensburg) pitcher when we needed to and had some key things happen at the right time.”
 
Bloomsburg goes to 31-17, while Shippensburg falls to 31-12.