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KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- The Green and White made a Rock-solid first impression Wednesday in its maiden voyage into NCAA postseason competition.

The seventh-seeded Rock forced second-seeded and eighth-ranked Bloomsburg to work two overtime stanzas before it escaped with a 5-4, nine-inning decision in first-round action of the Division II Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament at Kutztown University.

The Rock (27-16), which is in postseason competition for the first time since 1984, will now turn its attention to an 11:30 a.m. elimination game Thursday vs. sixth-seeded Shippensburg (27-26).

Shippensburg also lost an extra-inning affair as it fell to third-seeded and 16th-ranked Kutztown by a 1-0 margin in eight innings.

The Rock-Bloomsburg and Shippensburg-Kutztown games were the final two of three tooth-and-nail battles in which the tournament's top three seeds found themselves involved in opening-day action.

Top-seeded and second-ranked Lock Haven (44-6) nipped eighth-seeded Bowie State (25-13) by a 1-0 score in the day's second game after fourth-seeded California U. of Pa. (27-16) rolled to a 7-0 win over fifth-seeded West Chester (31-21).

Wednesday's results set up a 9 a.m. meeting between West Chester and Bowie State in the first of two elimination games.

A pair of winners bracket semifinal games will follow The Rock vs. Shippensburg game. California collides with Lock Haven at 2 p.m. before a Bloomsburg vs. Kutztown contest concludes the day's schedule at 4:30 p.m.

The regional tournament continues through Saturday. The regional champion earns a berth in the national tournament next week in Houston, Texas.

The Rock held the lead on two occasions during Wednesday's game vs. the Huskies.

SRU scored the first run of the game without the benefit of a basehit. Jordan Zeunges got a leadoff walk to open the game, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Stacey Rhoades and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jessica Ellebruch.

The Rock lead stood until the bottom of the third inning, when Bloomsburg scored an unearned run to tie the score at 1-1. The Huskies manufactured the tally from a walk, single and two fielder's choices, the second of which led to a throwing error by Rock second baseman Whitney Warmus on a potential inning-ending double-play attempt.

Bloomsburg pieced together three hits in the bottom of the fifth to score a single run and take a 2-1 lead.

But that lead stood for less than a half inning before The Rock erupted for three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead.

A leadoff walk by pinch hitter Stephanie Spisak got the rally started and set the stage for the a massive two-run home run over the left-center field fence by Rhoades that put SRU on top, 3-2.

The next batter, Ellebruch, reached base on an error, moved to second on a single by Meghan McHenry and came around to score SRU's fourth run on a ground ball by Jessica Kortz and an ensuing throwing error.

Bloomsburg scored single runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings to tie the score at 4-4 and send the game into extra innings.

The Huskies' seventh-inning tally scored from third base when a potential game-ending, two-out groundball to Rhoades at shortstop rolled through her legs and into left field.

Bloomsburg made the most of its extended life by piecing together a walk and three singles, the final one coming with the bases loaded and one out.

Senior righthander Lisa Getgen was the tough-luck losing pitcher for SRU. Although she allowed 13 hits in the game, Getgen had the Huskies handcuffed throughout the game and allowed only three earned runs. She struck out two and walked four in the course of her 13th complete-game pitching effort and saw her season record fall to 13-8.

Bloomsburg's Ashley Lynn was the winning pitcher and improved her season record to 24-4 with a 14-strikeout, two-walk performance. The owner of a minisclue 0.86 ERA prior to the game, Lynn allowed three earned runs on only three hits in her 22nd complete-game effort of the season.

Notes: Rhoades' home run was only the sixth allowed by Lynn in 195 innings this season ... Lynn has now struck out 209 batters this spring ... The Rock made its first postseason appearance since 1984, when SRU competed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs ... The last Rock regional-tournament appearance was in 1982, when the Green and White won the EAIAW regional title to earn a berth in the AIAW national tournament. That was the third straight AIAW national tournament appearance for SRU, which finished fifth in both the 1980 and 1981 events ... This season marked the fourth consecutive season in which SRU won 20 or more games. Only six Rock squads have reached that milestone since softball became an intercollegiate varsity sport in 1977.