Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College softball team found some answers offensively, particularly in the second game of a doubleheader against Castleton University when they had a season-high 14 hits – seven for extra bases – and scored seven times, but it was not enough to end their losing skid as they dropped both non-conference affairs to the Spartans by finals of 8-0 (5 innings) and 8-7 at Owl Athletic Complex.
 
Records

• Keene State:  1-13
• Castleton:  9-5

How It Happened – Game One
Castleton had lost five of their last seven entering the day, but Machaila Arjavich fired a five-inning shutout while allowing only five hits and the Spartans rolled to an 8-0, run-rule shortened victory in the opener after scoring four times in both the third and fourth innings to blow the game open.  After KSC left three on in the opening two innings, including a pair in the second after putting two on with only one out, CU plated four runs on four consecutive hits in the third.  The Spartans put two on with one out after an infield single and a walk before Arjavich helped her own cause by putting her team on the board with a run-scoring double.  Jamie Boyle, Miranda Fish, and Allie Almond each followed with base hits in succession off Keene State starter Olivia Albert to make it 4-0.  The Spartans were flummoxed by Albert (1-6) in a 5-1 loss on April 10, but it was a different story today as they tagged her for ten hits and eight runs (four earned).  She did still strike out six after recording eight against CU previously.
 
A Kylie Frank double with one out in the third was all KSC managed for a response in the bottom half of the inning, and the Spartans scored four more times – all unearned – while being aided by two Owl errors in the fourth to blow the game open.  The first two reached on singles before advancing on what would have been a sacrifice bunt and the first out, but the ball was thrown away, a run scored, and the batter reached second.  Albert sent down the next two in what was a 5-0 game, but a wild pitch, double, and another miscue tacked on three more runs as it got away from Keene State.
 
The Owls did load the bases with one out in the fourth on base hits by Gianna Zanchelli and Grace Hallett along with a hit batter, but a big swing that may have helped them get back into the game never came, as Arjavich got the next two to hit harmless infield popups and KSC went down 1-2-3 in the fifth.
 
Fish finished 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI for Castleton.  Five different Owls had hits, but Frank had the only one greater than a single (double).  Arjavich (2-1) won for Castleton, allowing five hits and a walk in five shutout innings.  She struck out one.
 
How It Happened – Game Two
The day's second contest was far different, with KSC piling up seven extra-base hits as part of their season-best 14 overall, but Castleton broke away from a 3-3 tie by scoring five times in the sixth and seventh innings before having to hang on at the end.  The Spartans led by two entering the final frame and managed only a walk to Jayna Ryan before the first two outs were recorded, but they wound up adding on what would turn out to be three critical runs on consecutive doubles by Madison Hanna and Boyle for an 8-3 edge.
 
The runs turned out to be of the utmost significance because KSC got to the Spartans' new reliever Olivia Joy in a big way, scoring four times and bringing the winning run to the plate, but they could not quite get over the hump and complete a stirring comeback.  The Blanchette sisters each doubled in the inning – Megan's third of the game – to make it 8-6, and after Hallett singled into left to put runners on first and third, Karissa Kenyon's grounder to first made it a one-run game.  However, Joy retired pinch-hitter Gianna Zanchelli on a bouncer to first, stranding the tying run at second.
 
Keene State was not without chances earlier in the game.  The Owls left a pair on in the fourth, unable to score following a leadoff double when it was 3-3, and then did the same in the sixth when down two runs, leaving runners at first and third after Sara Cote flied out to relatively deep center.
 
Alexis Blanchette had helped the Owls take a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI double, and after Castleton went in front 3-1 in the third, KSC immediately fired back with Meghan Moran's first career home run – a deep shot to left – to knot the game at three. However, Spartans reliever Katie Gallagher (2-0) was able to keep them off the board for the next three innings despite allowing five hits, allowing her team to capitalize later in the game.

Blanchette started in the circle and took the loss, allowing seven earned runs in the complete game.
 
Megan Blanchette finished with three doubles (3-4) and two RBI, while Moran, Albert, Alexis Blanchette, Hallett, and Faith Barbieri all had two-hit games.
 
Around the Horn

• Moran's homer was the first in her 49-game career.  She was the first KSC player to go deep at Owl Athletic Complex since Courtney Votto on April 28, 2019 (the Owls did not have any home games last season and this was their sixth this year).
• Hallett raised her batting average to .324 after going 3-for-5 on the day.  She has a hit in eight of 14 games this year.

Up Next

• KSC's next two doubleheaders both count in the conference standings.  The Owls visit the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (0-9-1, 0-4 LEC) on Thursday (April 22) at 3:30 p.m.
• Castleton travels to Norwich University (3-9, 2-6 GNAC) on Wednesday, April 21 for a pair starting at 2:00 p.m.