QUAKERTOWN, Pa. - The Bloomsburg softball team opened action at the 2025 PSAC Softball Championships Wednesday afternoon, going 1-1 on the opening day of competition.

The Huskies (30-18) began the day with an 11-1 win in five innings against California (Pa.) in the first round. The Bloomsburg bats were not enough to propel the team further into the winner's bracket with a defeat in a 16-11 slugfest to Slippery Rock.

Allie Wenrich (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) had an impressive postseason debut in the Huskies' two games. The freshman outfielder finished the day 4-for-6 at the dish with two grand slams, a triple, and a double for three runs scored and 12 RBI. In game two, Wenrich's 3-for-3 performance, featuring her second grand slam of the afternoon, a triple, and a double, for a program single-game record eight RBI. Mia Nemeth (Drums, Pa/Marian Catholic) and Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) recorded four RBI at the plate, going 4-for-5 and 4-of-6, respectively. 

How It Happened:

Game One:
Bloomsburg rolled through game one, scoring from the onset. The Huskies recorded four consecutive hits to open the contest. Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) led the game with a single before coming around to score in the next at-bat with a double from Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot). Nemeth drove in Yamrick with a single on the front end of back-to-back base knocks with Kranzley. With one out, Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) drove in Nemeth with her own single to cap off a 3-0 first frame. 

Bloomsburg moved its lead to 7-0 off one swing from Wenrich for her first of two grand slams. The Huskies rallied with two outs after a quick-turned double play. Nemeth and Kranzley again recorded consecutive singles to set the freshman up for the blast. The lead ballooned to 11 in the bottom of the third with another four-run output. Reagan Wiest (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) began the third with a double and moved to third on a one-out single from Sage Weidlich (Pittston, Pa./Pittston). Culp knocked in the first run of the inning with a single as Yamrick loaded the bases. Nemeth drove in one with a sacrifice fly before Kranzley cleared the bases with a triple to wrap up the scoring. 

Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot) pieced together a stellar start, giving up just one run on the day with two hits allowed and three walks. The sophomore tallied six strikeouts in the outing while carrying a no-hit bid through 3.1 before the Vulcans scored their lone run of the game from a pair of doubles in the top of the fourth as the Huskies began the day with a win.

Game Two:
Bloomsburg's strong day at the plate was not enough to keep them in the winner's bracket, as the team was on the short end of the stick in an offensive battle. 

The contest started off well with a two-run top of the first for the team. A one-out walk from Yamrick on three consecutive balls allowed her to reach before Nemeth singled to put two aboard. A fielder's choice set Wenrich up for another run-scoring opportunity, with the freshman delivering with a two-out double to put the Huskies up 2-0. 

That lead would be the only one Bloomsburg would have on the day, as a fervent Rock continued to pull away from the Huskies when needed. A double followed by back-to-back walks loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Slippery Rock got on the board with a sacrifice fly and moved out in front, 3-2, with a two-run single. That start paved the way for a 9-0 unanswered run through the first three innings. In the second, walks continued to cause trouble for Bloomsburg as three consecutive walks in the inning loaded the bases following an RBI single to make it 4-2. A later two-run single in the inning doubled the West foe's advantage to four. Slippery Rock piled on another three-run inning in the third, benefiting from what seemed like every hit finding a space in the field and moving the Huskies' deficit to 9-2. 

Bloomsburg did not go down without a fight, clawing back to within one run off a two-out rally. Wiest and Weidlich reached with singles before The Rock recorded their second out of the top of the fourth. Another single from Yamrick loaded the bases before Nemeth and Kranzley registered consecutive free passes to walk in a pair of runs. Wenrich made another statement at the dish, pulling Bloomsburg within striking distance at 9-8 with the second grand slam of the afternoon. 

With every response from the Huskies, there seemed to be a counterpunch from Slippery Rock. The West No. 1 seed managed to load the bases and get back three runs off a pair of RBI singles, as the inning ended with a score of 12-8. The lone scoreless full inning followed in the fifth.

Bloomsburg made another near-tying push at the top of the sixth to make it a 12-11 contest. With two outs and two runners aboard, Wenrich continued to will the Huskies into contention with the bat, drilling a triple over the shallow-shading Slippery Rock right fielder to plate two. Little followed on the next pitch with her own triple to the same spot to make it a 12-11 game. With every inch closer Bloomsburg came to tying the game, the Rock seized their opportunities to work back ahead, plating four in the bottom of the sixth to cement the five-run gap and the game. 

Numbers of Note: 
6 - The Bloomsburg softball team is sixth in the final release of the NCAA Atlantic Regional Rankings announced Wednesday afternoon. 

8 - Wenrich's 8-RBI performance in game two builds upon a strong first campaign for the outfielder. The program-record performance is tied for the third-most in a game among Division II players this season.

16 - The Bloomsburg pitching staff surrendered an uncharacteristic 16 runs against Slippery Rock on Wednesday in game two. Entering the PSAC Tournament, the Huskies had not given up double-digit runs in a game all season. Bloomsburg had given up six-plus runs in a game just five times before the postseason.

Day Two Preview:
The Bloomsburg softball team will fight for its survival on Thursday, May 1, at 12:30 p.m. against Shippensburg.

The Huskies will take on the rival Raiders for a fifth time this season. Bloomsburg has gotten the better end of the series in 2025, claiming the win in all four previous games. The last two games at Shippensburg came down to late-game situations, with the Huskies pulling out a 4-3 and 12-9 victory on April 16 on the front end of four consecutive games played by Bloomsburg. Since last taking on the Raiders, the Huskies are 9-5, while their opponent is 7-3 in their previous 10. Shippensburg began its PSAC Tournament run with a 6-3 defeat to West No. 4 seed IUP. The Raiders moved on to day two of the tournament with a 13-5 victory in five innings over West No. 3 seed Seton Hill. The last time the two sides met on a neutral field was in 2023 when Shippensburg took home the PSAC Championship title in a 7-4 game. =

This Shippensburg team relies on a core of five All-PSAC East selections in 2025. The headliner of the group is shortstop and first-team selection Caitlyn Martell. The junior is among the best players in the conference, slashing .425/.474/.638 to lead the team in all three categories while notching 74 hits, including 22 for extra bases and 40 RBI. Brie Wilmot is the team's leading power bat with bests in home runs (8) and RBI (43). Sarah Sabocsik occupies center field for the Raiders. Sabocsik has totaled 14 doubles and 29 RBI with a .360 batting average. On the mound, senior Alicia Ball has been a fixture of the rotation over the past several years, the second-team all-conference selection in 2025, is 11-11 this season with a 2.97 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 141.1 innings pitched. Dani Hayward has emerged as a solid pitching option for Shippensburg, particularly having a strong run in PSAC play. In 17 conference games this season, Hayward posted a 2.55 ERA in 93.1 innings pitched.