BCIAA softball championships: Kutztown beats Wilson for second straight title

A solo home run by Jayden Gehris over the center-field fence in the fourth inning gave Kutztown a one-run lead before the Cougars added three more runs in the fifth to extend their advantage to 7-3.

Follweiler highlighted the inning with a two-run double to right-center field.

During the middle innings, the freshman pitcher settled in nicely in the circle, allowing just three singles and one run across the fourth and fifth innings.

In the top of the sixth, the Cougars began to pull away offensively, doing most of their damage with two outs.

The left side of the field became Kutztown’s hot spot in the sixth inning. Kya Barell delivered an RBI single to left field, Oldt followed with a two-run double over the left fielder’s head, and Gehris added another RBI single to the left side.

Leading 11-4 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs had just six outs remaining and made sure to go down swinging.

The momentum inside the dugouts quickly shifted as Wilson began seeing the ball much better at the plate.

Ava Futrick opened the inning with a single, followed by another hit from Maddy Snyder.

Then, with two outs, Werley, Figarola, and Legath each drove in runs with RBI singles of their own.

Rylea Fick later stepped to the plate and drove in Wilson’s fourth run of the inning with a double, trimming the deficit to 11-8.

“Wilson has a really good lineup, and they’re a really good team, so we knew we had to keep putting runs on the board,” Fitzgerald said while praising the Bulldogs. “We knew they were going to fight back. Supporting each other on the field is what did it.”

After a mound visit from Conrad to settle down his freshman pitcher, Follweiler responded by getting Abby Zerbe to fly out to left field to end the inning with two runners left in scoring position.

“We worked hard to get us in that position to take some pressure off our pitcher so that she doesn’t have to be so fine in one run game or something like that,” Conrad said of getting a comfortable lead early on. “Going in there it worked out for us… but I went out there at the last out there, and I said, ‘Savannah, there’s no way you’re coming out of this game’. And she didn’t, she wouldn’t have, I think I would have had to drag her out. She’s a competitor.”

Kutztown was unable to add any insurance runs in the seventh despite a leadoff triple from Gabriella Parker.

In the bottom of the seventh, Futrick and Snyder both reached base on singles for Wilson, and with two outs, Werley stepped to the plate as the potential tying run.

She took the first pitch for a strike before trying to drive a high fastball out of the park.

Then, facing a two-strike count, Werley went down swinging as Follweiler recorded the final strikeout of the game, sending the Cougars into celebration mode.

With the county playoffs now complete, the District 3 playoffs will begin Monday, May 18, for both teams in their respective classifications, 6A for Wilson and 3A for Kutztown.

The Cougars reached the district championship game last season before falling 2-0 to Susquenita. However, Kutztown has won two district titles over the past four seasons, most recently in 2024, and owns 11 district championships in program history.

As for Wilson, the Bulldogs are still searching for their first district title after falling 1-0 to Cumberland Valley in last season’s semifinals following a 20-2 campaign.