FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Keene State College softball team struck first in both games Sunday, but could not hold on and were downed 5-2 and 4-1 by Crown College (Minn.) and SUNY Oneonta, respectively, at the CenturyLink Sports Complex.

Records

• Keene State:  0-3
• Crown:  6-4
• Oneonta:  9-5

How It Happened - Crown

The Owls, who played the same Storm yesterday and surrendered nine runs in the first inning, got off to a much better start in this game after starter Alexis Blanchette fired four scoreless innings and the offense put up a pair for a 2-0 lead.  However, Crown then scored five times over the next two frames, only one of which came on a hit, and beat KSC for the second time in as many days.  Keene State piled up 11 hits, seven of which came from the top four in the order.  Cassie Woods, Sara Cote, and Meghan Moran all went 2-for-4, with Woods adding an RBI and a stolen base.  Cote and Lexi Boisvert had doubles.  Crown also got production from the top of their order, with Telma Roesler, Zoe Roberts, and Liz Kemp combining to go 7-for-11 with an RBI.

Both teams had chances over the first four innings, but the breakthrough did not come until the Owls' two-run fourth, as KSC stranded two in the first and both teams stranded a pair in the third.  Scoreless into the bottom half of the fourth, Boisvert cracked a leadoff double to center - the first hit of her collegiate career - and eventually crossed the plate for the game's first run after Blanchette's run scoring single.  Keene State added another later in the frame when Woods executed a perfect bunt, reaching on a hit that scored Blanchette for a 2-0 lead.  The lead got away from the Owls with two outs in the very next half inning.  Crown drew within one on Kemp's one-out single to right, and eventually went in front despite not getting another hit in the fifth, as three walks and a passed ball put KSC in a 3-2 hole.  Two more damaging two out runs came across for the Storm in the top of the sixth, as Roesler (single) and Roberts (double) each came home on an Owl miscue to make it 5-2.  That proved to be enough, as Keene State was unable to generate a sustained rally after that, recording two hits over the final three innings.

Blanchette (0-1) started in the circle and covered five innings while giving up three runs and six hits.  She struck out three.  Ashley Earick (2-0) relieved Taylor Krueger, who gave up nine hits in 3.2 innings, and pitched 3.1 scoreless frames, allowing just two hits.

How It Happened - Oneonta

Keene State scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to jump in front, but then was limited to just one hit over the next six innings by the Red Dragons' Hunter Vanarnum and Alyssa Bluethgen and wound up falling after Oneonta tallied a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth.  The Owls finished with two hits, one of which was Moran's run-scoring single in the first.  The other was Boisvert's leadoff base hit up the middle in the seventh.  In between, only two other batters reached for Keene State, both on walks.  Oneonta saw Meaghan Raleigh contribute a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI, while Kaitlyn Loffman was 2-for-3.

Olivia Albert, making her first collegiate start in the circle, allowed just hit over the first three innings, preserving KSC's 1-0 lead that was built in the first after Cote walked, stole second, and scored on Moran's hit.  Oneonta stopped the Owls right there and put together a rally that resulted in the lead in the fourth.  Raleigh began the uprising with a single before eventually scoring the tying run on Amber Badillo's one-out base hit to center.  The Red Dragons went ahead 2-1 on a key two-out single from Loffman, which scored pinch-runner Megan Palmatier.  Three consecutive batters reached base in the top of the fifth as Oneonta expanded their lead to three on Caroline Koch's RBI double and Raleigh's run-scoring single that found its way through the infield.  That proved to be more than enough for Vanarnum and Bluethgen, who allowed just two Owl baserunners and one hit in the final five innings.

Albert (0-1) allowed two runs and four hits over four innings and took the loss.  Vanarnum got the win for the Red Dragons, improving to 3-0 after giving up one run and one hit in six innings.  Bluethgen got the safe, striking out two in a scoreless seventh.

Around the Horn

• Moran has a hit in all three games thus far and a pair of runs batted in.
• It was the first meeting between KSC and Oneonta since 2003.  The two teams have matched up just five times all-time, with the first coming in a 1999 NCAA tournament regional at Ithaca, N.Y.

Up Next

• The adjusted Gene Cusic Classic schedule continues tomorrow with Keene State taking on another SUNYAC school, Brockport (4-2), at 11:00 am and Crown at 1:00 pm in Fort Myers.