KEENE, N.H. 5/7/10 – Second seed Keene State College will get to play another game in the Little East Conference softball tournament after defeating fifth seed Southern Maine 12-3 on Friday at Owl Athletic Complex.

            “We took care of business today. I'm so proud of everybody,” said sophomore Laura Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.), who finished the game with four hits and three RBIs.

            Keene State (25-13-1) will play third seed Western Conn. (22-17) at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The winner will move into the championship round where it will face top seed Eastern Conn. (31-4-1) at 2 p.m.  If an additional game is need, it will be played at 4 p.m. The Warriors need just one more win to capture the tournament championship.

            Looking to avenge a 6-2 loss to USM in the opening day of the tournament, the Owls scored single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.  Freshman Nicole Dupuis (Fitchburg, Mass.) had an RBI single in the first. Sophomore Laura Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.) opened the third with a single, stole second, and came home on an error.

            Southern Maine went up 3-2 on a three-run home run by sophomore Jessica Hayden (Madison, Maine) in the fourth.

            Keene State scored two runs in the fifth to go up 4-3 on RBI singles from senior Stephanie Lavado (Wallingford, Conn.) and sophomore Courtney Savoie (Stratham, N.H.).  “I just went up there with the mentality that I didn't want to be the one to make the last out,” said Savoie about her key hit. “We exploded after that.”

            The Owls broke open the game by scoring three more runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh.  Chandler had a two-run double in the sixth while sophomore Sara Stocklinski (Newton, N.J.), Chandler, and Dupuis had run-producing hits in the seventh.

            In addition to her timely hitting, Chandler also made the defensive play of the game climbing the centerfield fence to pull down a ball hit by the Husky senior Chelsi Eugley (Thomaston, Maine) in the third.  “I wanted that ball to come to me and when it did I was ready to jump up and grab it,” she said.

            Lavado, the Owls catcher, also made a nice defensive play when she dived from behind the plate to catch the ball in the air on an attempted bunt by junior Melissa Caiazzo (Portland, Maine) in the fourth.

            The Owls, who have scored 29 runs and banged out 36 hits in their last two tournament games, finished the game with 17 hits.  Lavado went three-for-five while sophomore Haley Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.), Dupuis, sophomore Samantha Pratt (Bristol, Conn.), and Savoie each had two hits.

            For the second day in a row, sophomore Emily Albin (Bethel, Conn.) gave KSC a solid start in the circle.  She tossed a complete game four-hitter with 10 strikeouts and two walks.   “I just tried to remain confident and hit my spots,” said Albin, who improved her record to 8-1.

            Junior Sarah Deroche (Portland, Maine), whose record drops to 7-11, took the loss for the Huskies.