Beach's Big Blast And Staheli's Shutout Lift UB Softball To ECC Championship Saturday With 4-0 Win Over Top-Seed LIU Post

Brookville, N.Y.-Brilliant pitching by Amanda Staheli (Grad. Student, Pecatonica, Ill.) and a big three-run home run by senior Kamryn Beach (Tampa. Fla.) in the bottom of the fourth inning helped lift the second-seeded University of Bridgeport softball to team to a 4-0 win over the top-seeded LIU Post Pioneers (45-9 on the season) on Friday morning on LIUP's home field.  With the victory, UB, now 32-14 on the season, moves into Championship Saturday in the ECC Tournament as the only undefeated team in the double-elimination format.  Bridgeport will take the field on Saturday at 12 noon one win away from the East Coast Conference crown and an automatic bid to next week's NCAA Division II Championship Tournament.

Beach, who finished with two hits in the game, broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Purple Knights were playing as the home team, with a three-run homer, her third of the season to give her team a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished.

Junior Samantha Sabor (Plainfield, Ill.) drove in an insurance run with an RBI single in the fifth to up the Bridgeport lead to 4-0.

Those four runs were plenty for Staheli in the pitching circle as she blanked the high-powered LIU Post offense on only two hits in firing her sixth shutout of 2019.  The victory also ups her season record to 18-5.

Sophomore Kaira Ramon (Stamford, Conn.) was also a spark on offense for the winners smashing a pair of doubles, stealing two bases and scoring two runs.

Friday win is only the Purple Knights' sixth all-time win against the Pioneers, who have dominated the all-time series to a tune of 56-6, and first-ever triumph in the postseason.