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MANSFIELD, Conn. – Sara Cote tripled, homered, and went 4-for-4 while driving in two runs and scoring three as the sixth-seeded Keene State College softball team stayed alive in the 2021 Little East Conference softball tournament with a commanding 9-5 victory over No. 3 seed Plymouth State University Tuesday night at Clyde Washburne Field.  The Panthers had beaten the Owls 8-3 to start the day and for the fifth consecutive time this season, but just hours later it was KSC ending their season.
 
Records

• Keene State:  8-22
• Plymouth State:  16-13

How It Happened
After an opener that saw Keene State strand 11 runners and allow five runs in the opening two innings to fall into a three-run deficit from which they never recovered, it was a far superior start in the elimination game for the Owls.  Olivia Albert struck out the side in the top of the first and then, playing as the home team, KSC jumped out to a quick 2-0 edge on the Panthers, who had fallen into the losers' bracket after a 3-1 loss to sixth-ranked Eastern Connecticut in the previous game.  PSU was locked in a scoreless with the Warriors until ECSU scored three times in the sixth against Alexis Michon, who still turned in a solid outing of six innings, five hits, three runs (three earned), one walk and five strikeouts in that contest.
 
In the opening inning against Caitlyn Miller, facing her for the second time on the day, Keene State had the bats going.  Cote led off with a triple and scored two batters later when Meghan Moran hit one of her own.  A single to left later in the first for Megan Blanchette plated a second run.
 
Miller was chased in the second inning, but Keene State did not slow down offensively and hit Michon – someone who had struck out 14 Owls in the opening doubleheader of the season – hard over her three innings.  After Cote reached with some small ball and moved Grace Hallett (single) to second, Moran came through with her second triple in as many innings to make it a 4-0 game after two.
 
Plymouth State did have a brief answer in the top of the third, slicing the deficit in half on a fielder's choice grounder and Michon's RBI single, but Albert struck out Emily Picard and Sam McCann looking to end the inning.  She then got out of trouble in the fourth after allowing the first two to reach, and her team's got the bats going again in a big way in their half of the frame, as Hallett started with a double and scored on Cote's two-run blast into the trees beyond the left field fence to make it 6-2.  The Owls were not done against Michon, either, as Kylie Frank followed with a single to keep the line moving before Albert cracked her own homer to left to make it 8-2.  KSC tacked on another in the fifth with yet another extra-base hit, as Gianna Zanchelli doubled to right, scoring Kate Fisher who had singled to start the inning and had three hits in the game.  The Owls overall had a season-high 17 (tied for the most PSU had allowed) and a whopping seven for extra bases, including three triples (two by Moran) in easily one of their better offensive displays of the season, and it came at just the right time.
 
Plymouth State scored the final three runs of the contest, but all on groundouts, and the Panthers never mounted much of a significant threat against Albert (4-11), who had the ability to pitch with a sizable cushion.  She struck out seven in the complete game and walked only two.  Offensively, KSC struck out just three times while hitting the ball had most of the night, even for outs.
 
Miller (7-7), who held the Owls to two unearned runs in the first game of the day, took the loss the next time around and lasted just one-plus innings while allowing three runs and five hits.  Michon gave up five runs and six hits in her three innings.
 
Alexis Blanchette (4-8) had taken the loss in the tournament opener for Keene State, lasting two innings and allowing five runs (three earned).   KSC issued eight free passes in that contest and did not strike anybody out, but Albert changed that script later to keep the Owls' season alive.
 
Around the Horn

• Six Owls finished with multi-hit games.  KSC as a team, after a slow start to the season, has steadily improved their bats as they have gained more experience, now hitting .268.  Cote and Moran each have three triples.  Albert has two home runs.  They now have six qualified players hitting .292 or better.
• Keene State is 6-4 this season when scoring five or more runs, having won each of the last three times they have reached that mark.
• The Owls are 40-22 all-time against PSU, but had lost 10 of the previous 11 against them after dropping the first game today.  KSC was also playing in their first conference tournament game since 2017, when the tournament was hosted by Plymouth at D&M Park.  Keene State is 10-3 all-time against the Panthers in the conference playoffs.

Up Next

• The Owls move on to Thursday (May 13) where they will take on bracket host and No. 6 Eastern Connecticut State University at 1:30 p.m.  The Owls need to win a pair to keep their tournament run alive and move on to Saturday.  Regardless of who emerges from this group (KSC or ECSU), the winner will play a best-of-three LEC championship series against either top-seed University of Southern Maine or fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday.  Castleton University beat UMD 4-0 in the first game of Tuesday, but then lost to USM 4-1 before being ousted by the Corsairs 4-2 in the rematch.
• Plymouth sees their season end having dropped five of their past seven, though one of those wins (Sunday at Western Connecticut) helped KSC lock up a tournament spot.