WILLIMANTIC,CONN. 5/3/08 - After pulling off an amazing extra-inning 7-6 victory over top seed Eastern Conn. earlier in the day, Keene State ran out of miracles in its second game, losing to second-seed Rhode Island College 13-4 in the championship game of the Little East Conference Softball Tournament held at Spector Field on Saturday.

            The defending champion Anchorwomen (33-7), who captured their third straight LEC title and automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, will host the first-round regional tournament in Providence starting on Thursday.

            According to KSC Coach Charlie Beach, Keene State (25-12) has an outside chance of receiving an at-large berth to the NCAA, but more likely earn an ECAC tournament bid.  "Many lower seeds ended up winning their conference tournaments, so that's not going to open up many at-large berths," said Beach.  "I expect us to host a first-round ECAC game on Wednesday."

            As far as the weekend goes, Beach said he couldn't be more pleased with his team's play.  "They just never gave up," he said.  "Even the final outs in the champion game were hard hit balls.  We came into the tournament as the fourth seed and ended up second.  That demonstrates the character of this team."

            Coming off the emotional victory over Eastern, KSC took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first against RIC on a RBI double from junior designated player Katie Allenson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) and a run-producing single off the bat of junior shortstop Colleen Ferguson (Sussex, N.J.).

            The Anchorwomen, who finished the game with 14 hits, took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the third with designated player Kayla Jandreau hitting a two-run home run.  RIC added four more runs in the fifth.  Right fielder Michelle Perrin and third baseman Kyrstal Bilek had RBI doubles. 

            KSC got two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double by senior second baseman Jessica Starkey (Keene, N.H.), but the Owls couldn't cool off the bats of RIC which added five more runs in the seventh.

            Junior third baseman Jenna Patnode (Surry, N.H.) had two of KSC's five hits.  Bilek finished the game with three hits and four RBIs for RIC.

            Senior Ashlee Nicholson (Swanzey, N.H.) took the loss for KSC, giving up eight runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and a walk. After pitching five games and 34.1 innings in the tournament, Nicholson finally gave way to Starkey and freshman Jessie Williams (Jaffrey, N.H.) who pitched the 2.2 innings.

            "Ashlee was a warrior," said Beach.  "She just ran out of gas."

            Jenna Davies (14-3) got the win for the Anchorwomen, who went undefeated 4-0 in tournament play, including a pair of wins over the Owls.

            In a game that had its share of potential heroes, Keene State Julia May (Deep River, Conn.) emerged to make the final curtain call.  The junior right fielder hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Keene State a dramatic 7-6 victory over top seed Eastern Conn. to keep the Owls alive in the Little East Conference softball championship on Saturday.

            I've been involved with my share of incredible games over the years," said Beach, "But that this one just might be at the top of the list.  Even when we were down to our last few outs, there was a feeling we'd find a way to win."

            The Owls fell behind 2-0 in the third after Eastern's Rachel Denny's two-run single.  KSC loaded the bases in the fifth, but couldn't score.

            After knocking on the door the previous inning, the Owls took a 4-2 lead in the sixth.  Senior first baseman Kaity Conklin (Selkirk, N.Y.) had an RBI double and May delivered a two-run double to left center.

            The Warriors came back to take a 6-4 lead in the top of the seventh on a grand slam home run by Ashley Sullivan.

            The Owls rallied again to tie the score and send the game into extra innings.  Junior third baseman Katie Allenson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) singled to open the seventh, and came home a one a two-run blast over the left field fence by senior catcher Melissa Scata (Medway, Mass.) It was fifth round-tripper of the season for Scata.

            That set the stage for May, who cranked her second home run of the season, as hot to right center, to leadoff the bottom of the eighth.

            The bottom of the KSC order did most of the damage with junior leftfielder Allie D'Amato (Bristol, Conn.) collecting three hits. 

           Nicholson gave up six runs on nine hits to get the win (15-5). She fanned three and walked four batters.