DuBois, Pa. - The Penn State University Athletic Conference Softball Championship Tournament welcomed some chilly temperatures on Saturday, but at least got some sun as the double-elimination portion of the tournament began at Heindl Field in DuBois.

Penn State Fayette, the tournament's 7-seed, created a little more chaos with a 5-1 win over 3-seed Penn State Mont Alto to advance to the winner's bracket final on Saturday evening. Joining them in that game was 1-seed Penn State New Kensington after picking up a 6-4 win over 5-seed Penn State DuBois.

Fayette is the lowest seed to advance to the winner's bracket final in tournament history after knocking off both the 2- and 3-seeds in consecutive games. They followed it by knocking off New Kensington in the night's closing contest to advance to the championship game.

#7 PSU Fayette - 5, #3 PSU Mont Alto - 1

Fayette continued their cinderella run with another impressive win on Saturday morning. Makenzee Kenney was impressive in the circle again, creating soft contact while striking out just two. Fayette's defense committed two errors on 24 balls in play, backing up their starting pitcher with a solid performance in the field.

Mont Alto scored early, but it was their only run of the day. Sarah Devilbiss gave her team the 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI double, but Mont Alto would strand each of their next 10 baserunners.

Kylie Stevenson answered for Fayette, homering to center in the third to make it 2-1 and give her starter a lead. The score would remain there for the next four innings before Fayette's Hayleigh Vance knocked in a run with a single to center. After loading the bases, Kendra Firestone singled to right to plate one more run and Haylee Speicher singled to push the lead to 5-1 and give Fayette enough breathing room.

Speicher and Vance each finished with three hits and scored a run. Rachel Alleman and Devilbiss were the only Mont Alto hitters seemingly able to solve Kenney, accounting for two hits each and combining for four of the team's five hits.

Mont Alto's next game becomes an elimination game against DuBois, while Fayette takes on New Kensington for a spot in the title game.

#1 PSU New Kensington - 6, #5 PSU DuBois - 4

New Kensington became the first higher-seed to win in the tournament, grabbing a 6-4 win on the strength of their two best pitchers and a Jayde Rivera home run.

Olivia Waldrop started in the circle, pitching three innings and giving up three runs before giving way to Brookelyn Kotch. Kotch finished the game with four innings and three strikeouts, allowing just one run on two hits.

Waldrop opened the scoring on a passed ball in the first, followed by a Linda Shepard RBi single. Piper Zufall's double later in the inning scored Shepard and gave New Kensington a 3-0 advantage.

Rivera smacked a home run to right in the second and it looked like New Kensington might run away with the game after an Antonia Velasquez RBI single made it 5-0 after two. 

But DuBois would not go quietly. Jessy Frank doubled in two in the third and Natalie Bowser hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 5-3. After Velasquez singled in another run in the fourth, the teams went scoreless until a home run by DuBois' Elizabeth Hungiville made it 6-4 in the seventh. But Kotch settled in and closed it out as New Kensington advanced to the winner's bracket final later Saturday while DuBois goes on to face Mont Alto in an elimination game.

#3 PSU Mont Alto - 8, #5 PSU DuBois - 2

Mont Alto bounced back from a morning loss to eliminate DuBois in a rematch of the 2025 championship game, winning 8-2 to advance to Sunday. After struggling to score in their first game of the day, Mont Alto plated five runs in the first two innings to lead 5-0 before DuBois could blink.

Kira Weikert pitched a complete game and gave up just two runs in the winning effort. Despite DuBois collecting nine hits, they were scattered as Weikert stranded seven runners. Sarah Devilbiss smashed a home run for the victors and drove in three runs while Aiyana Young and Terri Williams each added two RBIs.

Jessy Frank had three hits for DuBois from the leadoff spot, scoring both runs on the chilly night at Heindl Field. 

Mont Alto grabbed the 3-0 lead in the first off of Devilbiss' homer, then Williams and Alyssa Wiles each drove in a run in the second. Williams closed out the scoring in the sixth to make it 8-2 and Weikert used her fielders to get through the game--she earned just one strikeout, using her eight teammates to deliver the other 20 outs with no errors.

Mont Alto will now face the loser of the Fayette/New Kensington winner's bracket final on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Showers Field in DuBois.

#7 Fayette - 12, #1 PSU New Kensington - 4

Fayette's miraculous run through the PSUAC Softball Championship Tournament has been nothing short of magical, and certainly unprecedented. Facing the top three seeds in the field in three straight games, Fayette has won every game by at least four runs and has outscored their opponents 22-6. The 12-4 win helped Fayette end the game early with the 8-run rule in effect.

The latest win came in the closing game of day two at Heindl Field, seeing Fayette cap off an incredible first two days 3-0 and headed to the championship for the first time in recent memory. Makenzee Kenney was in the circle again, pitching six innings and giving up just four hits.

Kenney helped herself, cranking a triple for Fayette and scoring twice. Kylie Stevenson was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with five RBIs, while Julie Cooper and Kendra Firestone added two RBIs apiece. Fayette finished with 14 hits and held New Kensington in check despite sloppy play in the field, committing six errors.

Fayette jumped out to a 2-0 lead before New Kensingotn answered in the second with two of their own. Then Fayette went on a run, scoring four runs in the third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth to make it 11-3. A New Kensington run in the fifth forced a sixth inning, but Fayette scored an additonal run to close the game out.

They'll now advance to the championship game for the first time in recent history. New Kensington and Mont Alto will meet at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning for the right to face Fayette again, where they'll have to knock them off twice.