Game #3

KEENE, N.H. 4/29/04 - The University of Southern Maine scored two runs in the top of the 11th to defeat host and top seed Keene State College in the third game of the Little East Conference Softball Tournament at Keene on Thursday.

Darci Holland (Buckfield, Me.) opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Natasha Jackson (Augusta, Me.).  Catterina Rittano (Sangerville, Me.) doubled to left to score Holland.  Rittano went to third on a past ball and scored on Emily Forbes's (North Berwick, Me.) single.

Adria Reynolds (Portsmouth, N.H.) and Abby Collis (Wynantskill, N.Y.) had singles in the bottom of the 11th inning.  Kari Garnder (Grafton, Mass.) was intentionally walked loading the bases.  But the Owls were unable to score.

Melissa Henderson (Newburyport, Mass.), who got the win in USM's  21 inning 2-1 win over Eastern Conn., earlier in the day, went the distance, scattering eight hits, striking out 10 and walking two to go to 14-5.
 Meghan McLoughlin (Brattleboro, Vt.) was the hard-luck loser for KSC.  She gave up four hits, fanned five and did not give up a walk and suffered her second loss of the season (11-2).

Because only three games were played on Thursday, the Tournament schedule has been revised.  Game four: Third seed Western Conn. will face second seed R.I. College at 9 a.m., Game five : fifth seed Eastern Conn. faces loser of game four at 11 a.m., , Game six: Plymouth State vs. Keene State (1 pm), Game seven: Southern Maine vs. winner of game four (3 p.m.), and winner of game five vs. winner of game six (5 p.m.).

Game #1
KEENE, N.H. 4/29/04-  Jen Cardone (Fulton, N.Y.) was hit by  a pitch with the bases loaded scoring Emily Forbes (North Berwick, Me.) with the winning run in the bottom of the 21st inning to give the fourth seeded University of Southern Maine a 2-1 victory over fifth seed Eastern Connecticut State University in an opening round game of the Little East Conference Softball Tournament at Keene, N.H.

With one out Forbes and Angela Cote (Windham, Me.) walked.  Jessie Becher (South Paris, Me.) singled to load the bases.  Warrior pitcher then hit Cardone to end the marathon game.

Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of fourth on Renee Heath's (Brunswick, Me.) third home run of the season.

Eastern Conn. tied the game in the top of the sixth.  Pinch hitter Lindsay Savelle (Cheshire, Conn.) singled.  Pinch running, Leigha Abair (East Hartford, Conn.) moved to second on a sacrifice by Lauren Bedini (Seymour, Conn.) and scored on Shari D'Amico's (Trumbull, Conn.) double to left.

USM had several chances to score earlier, including in the bottom of the 14th when second baseman Bedini threw Ashley Woodcock (Jay, Me.), who had singled, out at home after mishandling Kristen Tong's (Swanzey, N.H.) grounder,  In the 15th, Darci Holland (Buckfield, Me.) walked and got to third on a sacrifice and wild pitch, but was left stranded.

In  the 17th ECSU's Leigha Abair (East Hartford, Conn.) got to third after an infield hit, but was also left stranded.
Melissa Henderson (Newburyport, Mass.), who took over for starter Katie Mainville (Coopers Mills, Me.)in the 13th got the win for USM. Henderson who pitched eight innings of two-hit ball improves to 13-5. Mainville fanned 14 batters in  her 12 innings of work.

Vachon (6-10) took the loss for the Warriors. Savelle started for ECSU and pitched 14 innings and gave up six hits.

USM (29-7-1) will face top seed Keene State in the third game of the day.  Eastern Conn. (20-17) will play the loser of game four at 10 am on Friday. 

Game #2

KEENE, N.H. 4/29/04 - Sophomore pitcher Kristy Swanson (Danbury, Conn.) tossed a complete game three-hitter to lead third seed Western Connecticut State University to a 4-0 shutout victory over six seed Plymouth State University in the second game of the Little East Conference Softball Tournament played Thursday in Keene, N.H.

Swanson, who struck out one and walked six batters, improved her record to 7-6 with the victory. 

 Western Conn. got on the board in the third inning. Holly Szymanski (Wallingford, Conn.) reached on a bunt single and was sacrificed to second.  After advancing to third on a ground out, scored on an error.

The Colonials added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Jess Cioffi (Danbury, Conn.) scored on a sacrifice fly by Katie Wardlow (Old Bridge, N.J.).   Mallory Zenkus (Seymour, Conn.), who had two hits in the game, brought in two more runs with a single.

Kristin Balles (Bedford, N.H.) had two of the Panthers' four hits.

Kim Jeffs (Stoughton, Mass), who struck out six and walked four, took the loss for PSU.

 Western Conn. (21-13) will play Rhode Island College on Friday (9 a.m.).

Plymouth State (15-15) will play  Keene State on Friday (1 p.m.).