SHIPPENSBURG - Maybe it was the team meeting the night before in which graduate assistant coach Kate Refsnyder gathered pictures of the East Stroudsburg University softball team from when they were kids. The message was to remind the kids why they played the game. Maybe it was that finals are over and softball is the only thing on the mind of the players.

Whatever the reason, ESU won its first NCAA regional softball game with a 3-1 victory over Kutztown, Thursday morning at Robb Field.

The Warriors withstood a two-hour rain delay and cold temperatures in a game that took nearly four hours to complete and beat the Golden Bears for the first time this season in five tries in the first game of the NCAA Division II Mid Atlantic Regional.

In the process, ESU also set the school record for wins in a season, improving to 27-25 and breaking the record previously held by the 1988 team.

ESU will play Shippensburg, 8-1 winners over Millersville Friday at 4 p.m. in the winner's bracket. Kutztown, now 32-18, will play Millersville at noon.

The Warriors have not been in the regional playoffs in 24 years but scored two runs in their first at bat and held the lead.

The two runs were enough for winning pitcher Crissy Wontroba who made key pitches and benefited from solid defense behind her.

Wontroba, who already holds the school record for wins in a season, improved to 16-13 with a complete-game effort. She allowed just three hits, no earned runs, struck out six and walked five.

Second baseman Shannon Dietrich made a diving stop for a key out in the second inning and right fielder Ashley Miller chased down what could have been a double for an out.

The Warriors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first before the umpires called the teams off the field. Jennifer Veronesi battled for a 10-pitch walk. One out later, Miller doubled to the fence in right field to put runners on second and third. Veronesi scored on a wild pitch and Miller went to third. Dietrich then drilled a single between third base and shortstop to plate Miller for a 2-0 lead.

The drizzle that was evident when the starting lineups were introduced turned in a downpour and the tarp was put on the field. Following a two-hour rain delay, two strikeouts ended the inning.

ESU added a run in the third. Jessica Schmoyer walked to open the inning and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Miller. One out later, Eliza Morosco blasted a double off the fence in left to score Schmoyer for a 3-0 advantage.

Wontroba took a no hitter into the bottom of the third when Kutztown scored an unearned run. Adriane Wilmer reached on an error to open the inning, stole second and two outs later, scored on a single by Krista Cameron, the first Kutztown hit.

That was as close as the Golden Bears would get as Wontroba had three strikeouts in the last three innings to preserve the win.