Brandywine Completes Sweep To Secure Ninth-Straight PSUAC Championship

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine clinched its ninth-straight Penn State University Athletic Conference Softball Championship by besting No. 2 Penn State Mont Alto 8-0 to sweep the best-of-three championship series on Monday morning at Nittany Lion Softball Field.

Brandywine, which was staked to a 1-0 series lead following Sunday's 5-1 triumph, clinched the title by an 8-0 count for the second consecutive year and the third time in four seasons. The Lions have won five of their nine conference championships via eight-run rule.

Brandywine's offense backed starting pitcher April Lewandowski (Atco, N.J./Hammonton) with 13 hits in five innings. Karly Rees (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) was 3-for-3 at the plate, while Lexi Bussenger (Bangor, Pa./Bangor), Jess James (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) and Payton Landis (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) all tallied two hits. Bussenger also stole two bases and crossed home twice.

Lewandowski improved to 14-2 in the circle this spring after spinning her sixth shutout. She struck out three batters and limited the Mont Alto offense to four hits. She worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth by getting a popup and a ground ball back to the circle to preserve the shutout.

The Lions' offense struck early, sending nine batters to the plate during a five-hit, four-run first inning. Bussenger led off with a base hit and two batters later, Kaylee Mushinski (Allentown, Pa./Allentown) launched her conference-leading ninth home run over the left field fence. Following Mushinski's long ball, Brandywine loaded the bases with two outs for James, who delivered a two-run double into the left-center field gap.

Brandywine put the game away by scoring four more times in the fourth. Bussenger singled in James and came around to score on Emily Reagan's (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) base hit. Two batters later, Landis added a run-scoring single that plated Isabella Hurta (Colts Neck, N.J./Red Bank Catholic). Rees capped the scoring with an RBI triple.

Brandywine (34-8), the defending USCAA National Champion, will learn its seed for the USCAA World Series Tuesday at noon. The USCAA World Series begins Monday, May 13 in DuBois, Pa.