SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna University softball team needs to make no apologies for the way in which it earned the fourth and final playoff spot in this weekend’s Commonwealth Conference playoffs at Lebanon Valley College.

After dropping a doubleheader at Elizabethtown on Saturday to end their school-record 11-game winning streak, the Crusaders headed back home figuring that perennial league powerhouse Messiah would win at least one game in its twinbill at Juniata to sew up fourth place and leave the Crusaders on the outside.

However, Messiah was knocked off twice by Juniata to drop to 7-7 and one game behind the Crusaders in the final standings. As a result, Susquehanna (21-12-1, 8-6 Commonwealth) will be making its fourth postseason appearance in the last five years beginning Friday at 11 a.m. against two-time defending champion and top seed Moravian (31-6, 12-1).

The game can be heard live on WQSU-FM (88.9) with Jack Burns calling play-by-play and Dave Applegate on color, beginning at 10:40 a.m. The winner will play the winner of the Elizabethtown-Albright game at 3 p.m. on Friday, while the losers will meet in an elimination game on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Second-year head coach Cheri Swineford has relied on a youthful pitching staff, with sophomore Amy Kleman and freshmen Heather Litzebauer and Shannon Nagy combining for a 2.05 earned run average and five shutouts on the year.

Litzebauer (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South H.S.) is 12-5 on the season with a 1.48 earned run average, setting a Susquehanna freshman record for victories. In 20 appearances (13 starts) and 118 innings of work, the righthander has issued just 17 walks and held opponents to a .221 batting average.

Nagy (Bangor, PA/Bangor H.S.) has started nine games and owns a 4-3 record with a team-best 1.44 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. In her last start against Juniata last Friday, Nagy tossed 10 innings and allowed just three hits and one unearned run as the Crusaders won 2-1 in 11 innings. She has limited opponents to a mere .183 average and surrendered only seven extra-base hits.

Kleman (Locustdale, PA/Cardinal Brennan H.S.) is the veteran of the staff, having served as the number-two pitcher behind career win and strikeout leader Kristen Hogan last season. This year, Kleman is 5-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 12 starts and had won four straight decisions prior to a 4-2 loss in the nightcap at Elizabethtown on Saturday.

Offensively, the Crusaders have three starters above the .300 mark, led by sophomore outfielder Becky Mann (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport H.S.) at .343. Junior shortstop Shana Lalo (Bethlehem, PA/Northampton H.S.) is batting .324 with 15 runs batted in and a team-high 12 bases on balls, while senior third baseman Shelly Zimmerman (Denver, PA/Garden Spot H.S.) is hitting .302 with two homers and a team-best 19 runs batted in.

Setting the table at the top of the order has been junior second baseman Erin Nittinger (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville H.S.), who has scored a team-high 21 runs and has made just five errors in 147 chances in the field. In the five-hole, sophomore Melissa Bird (Catawissa, PA/Danville H.S.) is batting .279 with a home run and nine runs batted in.

At midseason, junior Alli Ackerman (Morris Plains, NJ/Parsippany Hills H.S.) shifted from catcher to center field, and she has responded both at the plate and in the field. Ackerman leads the Crusaders with three home runs, including a game-winning solo shot in a 5-3 win at Lebanon Valley on April 13, and she has driven home 14 runs to tie for third on the team with Mann.

Ackerman, who had played errorless ball behind the plate until moving to the outfield, has also been flawless in the outfield. For the season, she not made an error in 70 chances. Freshman Deanna York (Lanoka Harbor, NJ/Lacey Township H.S.) stepped in behind the plate and has committed just one error in 18 starts.

Rounding out the Crusader lineup are junior left fielder Teresa Ely (Montrose, PA/Montrose H.S.), who is tied for the team lead with four stolen bases, junior first baseman Gretchen Anderson (Southington, CT/Southington H.S.), who has made just two errors in 288 chances, and sophomore centerfielder Kelli Thompson (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin H.S.), who has stolen four bases and laid down a team-high 10 sacrifices.

Off the bench, freshman Heather Thomas (Reading, PA/Reading H.S.) has appeared in 10 games as a utility infielder and has two hits in 11 at-bats.