CLERMONT, Fla. – It wound up being a successful ending to what turned into a very busy day for the Keene State College softball team, as they rebounded from a pair of losses – one from the resumption of a suspended game – to beat the State University of New York at Morrisville 9-0 at the Hancock Park Ballfields on Thursday afternoon in their penultimate day at The Spring Games.  The Owls fell in the morning completion of Monday's game against nationally 12th-ranked Simpson College 11-3 and then allowed seven runs in the opening four innings in an 8-3 defeat to Springfield College.

Against the Storm, who were No. 14 when the game bean three days ago but moved up two spots in the newest poll before the completion, a deluge of rain and thunderstorms put the field underwater on Monday with the game tied at one in the bottom of the second as the teams traded runs on fly outs in the first.  Today, Simpson took their first lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the third thanks to an unearned run from one of KSC's three errors, but the Owls battled back in the very next inning as Abby Weiterman launched a game-tying solo home run and Jayme Kiley later poked an RBI single up the middle to put KSC in the lead again.  Simpson (12-1) answered, though, leading off their half of the fourth with a solo homer from Brielyn Ginnaty for a 3-3 tie before Caelynn Obleton doubled with one out and scored on Cheyenne Jones' single.  The Storm tacked on another in the fifth as KSC was sent down 1-2-3 in the top half and again in the sixth, but still was hanging around down two with their last ups looming.  The game unraveled in the home half of that inning, though, as a one-out single by Jones and an infield single to third followed by an error, opening the flood gates as Simpson put up six (three without the benefit of a hit) to end it.

Emma LaFave (5-1) got the win for the Storm, located in Indianola, Iowa and an NCAA tournament participant a season ago, allowing five hits and three runs (two earned) in five innings with eight strikeouts.  She did not walk a batter, which ended up being a huge difference in the game, as KSC's three arms walked five and hit two others.  Shay Webb (1-1) took the loss, but five of the eight runs she allowed in 5.1 innings were unearned.  She walked two and struck out one.

KSC started slowly against the Pride (6-3), allowing three runs in the top of the first, and never recovered as they lost in what was originally supposed to be their first action of the game.  Springfield banged out 14 hits as a team and had six different multi-hit efforts, including two RBIs apiece for Carissa Pecchia, Kate Katsetos, and Madison Testo.  Amelia DeRosa had three hits and a walk out of the top spot in the Pride's order.

Down 5-0, the Owls got one run back in the bottom of the third when Cainen Avery walked to push a runner into scoring position ahead of Abbie Monkevicz's RBI single to center.  But KSC could not gain any traction, as Katsetos drove in two with a single to right to make it 7-1 in the fourth.  The Owls put two on with two out in the bottom half in need of a response, but a grounder to first ended the threat, and a walk and two singles for Springfield in the fifth tacked on another.  KSC had a brief uprising in the bottom half to make it 8-3 as Weiterman walked and Avery pulled a run-scoring double into left, advancing to third on the throw and scoring on Monkevicz's sacrifice fly.  The Owls could not get any closer, though, mustering just one free pass over the final two innings.
Julia Rimschnick (2-1) allowed plenty of baserunners (five hits, five walks) and plenty of fly balls (13 fly ball outs), but allowed just three runs (two earned) with four strikeouts to get the win in a complete game effort.

Ashley Connor (1-1) took the loss for the Owls, allowing eight hits and five runs in three innings.

KSC got a much-needed bounce back to close the day, mowing down Morrisville (0-5) with ease as they scored twice in the first, twice in the second, and four times in the third to remove any doubt about the outcome quickly.  Elyse Picard went 2-for-2 with a double and drove in four runs while also taking a walk.  Her two-run double into left helped create separation, giving the Owls a 4-0 lead in the second as they scored twice after the first two batters of the inning grounded out.  KSC pulled even further away in the third, as Gianna Garofola smoked a two-run double of her own into the left center gap to make it 6-0 before later scoring on a wild pitch.  Picard tacked on a base hit to left that plated Lily Mandel later in the inning to make it 8-0.

Olivia Souers (1-0) and Hailey Merrill had no trouble with the Mustangs' lineup, holding them to just two baserunners (one hit and one walk) while inducing nine ground ball outs.  They needed just 56 pitches to get through five innings (while two Morrisville arms threw 125 pitches).

Kalle Halvorsen, hitting nearly .600 in the early going, had another multi-hit game (2-4), while Avery had a run-scoring triple in the first.  Monkevicz also had a triple, giving KSC a whopping eight three-baggers in seven games and 19 extra-base hits overall.  The Owls' pitching staff, although allowing a .310 average, has surrendered just six extra-base hits themselves.

Gracie Battles (0-1) took the loss for Morrisville, allowing six hits and eight runs with five walks and one strikeout.  Lindsey Fish had the designated home team's only hit, a clean single up the middle to start the fourth, but they were otherwise shut out for their third consecutive game, falling to the University of Wisconsin-Stout 9-0 and the University of New England 5-0 in their previous two games since a 17-12 loss to Augsburg University on Tuesday.

"We learned a lot about ourselves today in our games against Simpson and Springfield," said KSC head coach Haley Chandler, who is 11-6 in Florida in her first two seasons.  "Mainly, we learned what we are capable of.  I am looking forward to seeing how we grow from those two games."

The Owls close their Florida spring break trip by taking on Franklin & Marshall College (3-5) and the State University of New York at Plattsburgh (4-5) on Friday (March 20) at 9:00 and 11:30 a.m., respectively.