Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College softball team still has four home games remaining – all of which will be important in the race for the final playoff spot – but honored their three seniors
Meghan Moran,
Emma Pede, and
Alexis Blanchette – during a doubleheader split with Rhode Island College in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex. The Owls took the opener 8-4 behind a five-run fourth before dropping the second game 6-3.
Records
- Keene State: 5-19, 4-8 LEC
- Rhode Island College: 7-16, 2-10 LEC
How It Happened – Game One
KSC broke open a 2-2 game by scoring five times in the fourth inning and went on to an 8-4 win behind Blanchette's solid start in the circle. The senior allowed four runs (three earned) and struck out four while winning for the third time in the past five starts. Alexis' cause was not only helped by her own performance at the plate – a 2-for-4 effort with a two-run double in the big fourth – but also her freshman sister
Megan Blanchette, who cracked her first career home run in that same inning and finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and two run scored. It was a fast – and big – answer from the Owls' four, five, and six hitters in the fourth as they went in front 7-2 after RIC had just tied the game in the top half of the inning on Cassidy Schoen's single. All five tallies came with two outs, and in fact came in a span of three consecutive batters, as
Olivia Albert put KSC up 3-2 with an RBI double before the Blanchette's came through with more.
The Anchorwomen quickly got two runs back when Faith Turinese had a two-base hit and Katelyn Ashe followed with a two-run homer off the scoreboard to make it 7-4, but
Alexis Blanchette (3-6) kept them right there, stranding one runner in each of the final three innings. Another senior,
Meghan Moran, got in on the action by tacking on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth for an 8-4 lead.
Sara Cote added a multi-hit game of her own, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk, and the Owls overall saw eight of their nine batters record a hit. They had 11 overall. Six different players drove in a run.
Rhode Island College, who had scored 28 combined runs in a non-conference home sweep of the Owls to snap a 14-game losing streak in the series yesterday, got three hits from Alexis Boyce and a pair from Schoen along with two RBI, but lost for the 14th time in 21 games in Keene.
How It Happened – Game Two
Albert got the ball in the second game as KSC, after honoring the three seniors between games, sought their first sweep of the season, and started impressively. The sophomore from Old Town, Maine retired the first six and kept Rhode Island College off the board in the first four innings, but the Anchorwomen suddenly went from striking out seven times in the opening 4.1 innings to a 4-1 lead in a span of seven batters in the top of the fifth. KSC had just taken the lead in the previous half inning when
Kylie Frank doubled to left center and advanced to third on a grounder before scoring on a passed ball. Albert whiffed Katrina Kazen – as mentioned, her seventh K – to start that inning, and got the second out of the frame on a sacrifice bunt that moved Tatiana Burcy, who walked, into scoring position. But the third out proved to be elusive. Singles by Avery Katz and Faith Turinese put RIC on top 2-1, and later, a two-run double by Boyce off the center field fence added on two more.
Trailing 4-1 but looking for a quick answer, the Owls loaded the bases in their trip to the plate on two singles and a walk. However, Frank popped out to second as KSC's chance went by the boards against Burcy (3-6), who had a strong outing, allowing three runs (two earned) and six hits in the complete game. She struck out four. Albert was matching her – or perhaps even outdueling her four the first four innings, but the fifth inning flipped the game around. The Owl hurler allowed four runs, all earned, and seven hits in five innings. She walked two and struck out seven.
Rhode Island College added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on run-scoring hits by Boyce and Kazen, and as has happened on several occasions at Owl Athletic Complex this season, those runs paid off ultimately. KSC did mount a rally and score two in the bottom of the seventh on Cote's double, but the Anchorwomen's insurance tallies allowed them to pitch the final frame with a five-run lead instead of a three-run lead, where if the inning had played out the same way, KSC would have had the tying run on base. Trailing 6-1, though, that never happened.
Ashe and Boyce each went 3-for-4, with Boyce driving in three. She had six hits on the day.
Cote finished 2-for-4 and drove in two for KSC while
Megan Blanchette also had a pair of hits (2-3), but the Owls were held to six in the game. Blanchette has six hits in her last four games and is now hitting .265.
Around the Horn
- The Owls have five games with double-digit hits in the last 14 after having just one in the first 10 contests of the season.
- KSC is 32-27 all-time against the Anchorwomen after a 1-3 weekend. RIC had won just once in Keene since 2011.
- The split moved Keene State into a tie with Western Connecticut State University for the sixth and final playoff spot at 4-8. WestConn has games at UMass-Dartmouth and home against Plymouth State University left, while KSC hosts third-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University and UMass-Boston. The six through nine spots in the league standings are separated by just two games.
Up Next
- As mentioned, Keene State hosts No. 3 Eastern Connecticut (21-1, 9-1 LEC) on Tuesday, May 4 for two starting at 3:00 p.m.
- Rhode Island College visits UMass-Boston (2-8, 2-8 LEC) on the same day at 3:30 p.m.
