KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The No. 6 seed Bloomsburg softball team battled to a 1-0 victory Thursday afternoon in its opening game of the 2025 NCAA Regionals against No. 3 seed Shepherd.

The Huskies (32-19) came out on top in the nine-inning pitcher's duel with the Rams (28-23-1), avenging their defeat from the PSAC Tournament a week ago. Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot) kept Shepherd in check all afternoon, shutting out the PSAC Tournament runners-up with nine scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks to seven strikeouts. 

Bloomsburg did what it needed to offensively in the top of the ninth, as Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) led off the inning with a double. Following a sacrifice bunt from Allie Wenrich (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin), Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) delivered the biggest hit of the contest with an RBI single back up the middle of the infield to tie a bow on a birthday gift for her and head coach Susan Kocher.

How It Happened:
Both pitchers started comfortably through the first inning before Shepherd threatened for the first time in the bottom of the second. A leadoff single and an error put runners on the corners with one out in the frame. Facing the bottom of the order, Yamrick took control into her hands, getting both batters down swinging to stake her claim in the early going. 

Reagan Wiest (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) provided the first sign of life for the Huskies' bats with the team's first hit of the afternoon in the top of the 3rd. Yamrick sought to help her cause with a single to open the fourth and, with two outs, made her way to second following a single from Wenrich. The team's hopes in the inning ended with a chopped grounder to the left side of the infield, keeping the game tied at 0-0 through four innings.

The two teams again fell victim to stellar pitching in the fifth, with two-out rallies with a runner in scoring position ending routinely. After coming up empty in the top of the sixth, the situation turned dicey in the bottom half of the inning. Following a leadoff double for the Rams, a single up the middle put pressure on the Huskies with two aboard and no outs. Shepherd was committed to ending the scoreless drought, a decision that led to a play at the plate to allow Bloomsburg to get the lead runner and the first out with runners on first and second. Yamrick jammed the next batter on the first pitch for a weak pop-up to Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) at shortstop. The inning ended with a race to third base, as Malauni Frost (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) stopped a well-hit ground ball and narrowly beat out the advancing runner to get the Huskies out of the jam.

Despite a single to turn the lineup over for the Rams in the bottom of the seventh, neither team scored in the allotted innings, sending the Regional tie to extra innings. The two teams continued searching for the decisive run, as a two-out single from Yamrick saw her left stranded before dealing with another conundrum in the bottom of the eighth. Following a dropped fly ball and a sacrifice fly, Shepherd had a runner on second with one out going through the heart of its order. Yamrick got the five-hole hitter to line out to Wenrich in left field before a soft ground ball to Frost was secured by Taylor Welsh (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) at first base to keep the game scoreless. 

After eight innings without a run, the heart of the Bloomsburg lineup delivered when it mattered most. After Little's RBI single, the Huskies looked for insurance with runners on first and second but could only take the one-run lead into the bottom half of the inning. Getting one last go-around at the bottom third of the order, Yamrick got the job done for her team. The sophomore handled her business with a ground ball for a 1-3 putout before getting the next batter out with a first-pitch fly ball. With two outs, Yamrick ended the game in style with a strikeout to give the Huskies the win.

Numbers of Note: 
3 - Thursday's win marked three years since the last time the Huskies defeated the Rams during postseason play. That game was the two sides' first PSAC Tournament meeting from May 8, 2022.

2016 - Bloomsburg's win against Shepherd marked the end of a 10-season hump for the program. The win against the Rams was the Huskies' first in the NCAA Regionals since May 6, 2016.

230 - Culp hit a landmark in the Bloomsburg hit column with her infield single in the fifth. The senior shortstop became the 10th player in program history to reach 230 career base hits Thursday.

2 - On Thursday, the Bloomsburg softball team had two players named to the NFCA Atlantic All-Region team. Nemeth and Yamrick each received second-team honors for their play on the field after receiving second-team all-conference accolades last week.

Game Two Preview:
The Bloomsburg softball team returns to the field in the winner's bracket, taking on hosts and No. 2 seed Kutztown.

The two teams bet four times during the regular season, with the Golden Bears taking the season series 3-1. In 2024, the Huskies went 3-1 against Kutztown with a sweep on its home field. This season, both games at North Campus Softball Field between the teams were decided by one run, with the two teams scoring eight runs between them. The sides faced off 12 times during the postseason since 2008, including 2-2 during NCAA Regionals. However, the teams have not met under the banner since 2013, when the Golden Bears earned two victories and eliminated the Huskies from the Shippensburg Regional. In 2008, Bloomsburg captured two wins over Kutztown to eliminate the then-hosts from the field.

The Golden Bears are led by five All-PSAC East honorees, featuring three NFCA All-Atlantic Region recipients. Emily Henn is the headliner as a first-team all-conference and all-region selection. Henn leads Kutztown with a .414 batting average and 77 hits after day one of Regionals. The left fielder has 10 doubles, four triples, and six home runs with 33 RBI from the No. 3 spot in the lineup. Pitcher Hailey Gravish and third baseman Morgan Slomkowski join Henn on the All-Region list with second-team nods following second-team All-PSAC East honors. Gravish is the team's top pitching option, coming off a nine-inning outing of her own in the team's opening contest, a 5-4 walk-off victory earlier in the day. The senior possesses a 2.49 ERA on the season across 205.0 innings pitched, amassing 169 strikeouts for a 27-7 record. Slomkowski is among the best power hitters in the PSAC and the region, leading the team with 12. The junior is third on the team with a .321 batting average while at the top in OPS (1.062), extra-base hits (23), and second in RBI (41). Naya Darnowski (1B) and Alexa Stevens (2B) build upon the team's pop with 37 extra-base hits and 79 RBI combined. Both players are hitting .305 in 2025, with Stevens the team leader with 47 runs batted in. 

The winner of the matchup moves on, one victory away from securing a spot in the NCAA Super Regionals. The loser of the contest awaits the winner of Shepherd and Charleston (WV) for their next opponent in the second elimnation game of the day.