Clermont, Florida 3/18/10 – The Keene State College softball team split with SUNY Geneseo and Central College of Iowa at Hancock Park in Clermont, Florida. The Owls came back to drop Geneseo 7-5 in the morning, then fell to Central College 5-1 in the afternoon to run the KSC record to 5-3 on the season.

“We fought back twice against Geneseo and that shows that we are a pretty gritty team,” said KSC Head Coach Charlie Beach. “Central showed us that we need to be better to compete at the national level.”

In the victory over Geneseo, KSC fell behind 5-4 in the top of the sixth. The Owls take the lead back and hold it for good, crossing the plate three times in the bottom half for the 7-5 victory.

Sophomore second-baseman Haley Botti (Dracut, Mass.) singled and advanced to second base after the ball ricocheted out of play to start the rally. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, freshman outfielder Kayla Joyce (Bridgewater, Mass.) brought Botti home on an RBI single to the left side to even the game at five apiece.

Geneseo continued to have wild pitching problems as Joyce advanced to third on consecutive miscues. Freshman outfielder Jessica Fiorenza (Wakefield, Mass.) dropped an RBI single into left-center socring Joyce from third and giving the Owls a 6-5 lead. Fiorenza scored the seventh and final KSC run on an error by the shortstop to give the Owls a 7-5 win.

Sophomore pitcher Ashley Clark (Alton, N.H.) pitched five innings allowing just two runs on four hits and striking out two in the no-decision. Samantha Pratt (Bristol, Conn.) pitched in relief and picked up her first win of 2010 in two innings of work allowing three runs on two hits and a walk.

The second game of the afternoon against Central College of Iowa saw KSC only score one run. In the top of the fourth, Katie Bradford (Lebanon, N.H.) doubled, advanced to third on a sacrifice-fly and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1 Central.

Central College would play small-ball all game scoring two in the fourth and adding another in the sixth for the 5-1 victory.

Sophomore hurler Courtney Savoie (Stratham, N.H.) went the distance allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out two in the loss.

The Owls will continue to play in Florida with games against Bates and FDU-Florham at 11:30 and 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.