NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Abby Weiterman finished with three hits including two doubles and drove in six runs while Elyse Picard added a home run and drove in three as the Keene State College softball team won a wild 15-12 game in the opener of a non-conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon at the Smith Softball Field. The Bears rebounded to pull away in the nightcap, winning 9-1 in six innings to salvage the split.
KSC (8-5) kept their red-hot offense going in the first game, scoring at least 11 runs in a game for the fifth time in 13 games this season. But it was one inning in particular that the Owls might look back on all season as they move into conference play that illustrates their fight – a ten-run fifth inning that flipped a five-run deficit into a five-run lead.
After Smith (6-5) had taken control by sending nine consecutive Owls down in order while scoring twice in the second, twice in the third, and three times in the fourth to lead 7-2, KSC turned the game in an instant as the first six batters of the fifth reached beginning with Anna Gostkowski's single to left. She then stole second before Kalle Halvorsen and Elyse Picard both walked. Weiterman cranked her first double of the inning to the left center gap to make it 7-4. After a Cainen Avery fielder's choice where the Bears got nobody out, Jayme Kiley poked a two-run single to make it a one-run game just like that to spell the end of the day for Bailey Gray. The Owls were far from done, though, tying the game on the first out of the inning as Gianna Garofola grounded to short to score Avery. Pinch-hitter Lily Mandel and Jaelyn Boretti each then worked full count free passes before a second passed ball in the inning put KSC back ahead for the first time since their 2-0 lead in the first. The inning kept snowballing for the home team, as reliever Alana Robinson then walked Gostkowski for a third straight free pass. She got Halvorsen to strike out for the second out in what was an 8-7 game, but Picard hit into another fielder's choice in which the Bears could not retire anybody to drive in a run. Weiterman then came up with one of the biggest swings of the game, clearing the bases by pulling a three-run double down the left field line. At the start of the inning – 7-2 Smith. Three outs later? 12-7 Keene State.
But the drama was not over, as three batters into the bottom half of the inning Smith trimmed three runs off their deficit as Ally Knutson and Sophie Hasegawa both walked on five pitches before Violet Peverly launched a three-run shot to make it 12-10. Two more free passes put the tying run on base, but Megan Strzegowski – who entered after the homer – settled things down and kept KSC in front by two through five and then had a sharp sixth that included two strikeouts after a leadoff single.
The Owls piled on three key insurance runs, all with two outs, in the seventh for breathing room. Walks to Gostkowski and Picard with a ground ball by Halvorsen sandwiched between put two on for KSC, and Weiterman drove in her sixth run of the day by plating Gostkowski for a 13-10 edge. A miscue by right fielder Elinor Washington on Avery's fly ball allowed two more to score.
Smith loaded the bases with one out down five and made things interesting very late after Washington's RBI single and Lily Hackett's sacrifice fly made it 15-12 and had the tying run at the plate, but Strzegowski got Knutson to bounce to short to end a feel-good win for KSC, who finished with 10 hits. The top six in the lineup all had at least a single.
Both teams struggled with control, combining for 18 walks (KSC 10, Smith 8), but the Owls induced 13 ground ball outs, including seven by starter Ashley Connor, who went three innings and allowed eight hits and four runs (two earned) with one walk. Boretti got the win for Keene State and Gray the loss for the Bears.
The second game was a far different story over the first three and a half innings, as Smith opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on Riley Veenstra's RBI single. Weiterman tied it in the top of the third with a single into left, and it remained 1-1 into the last of the fourth when Smith did their own irrecoverable damage with a five-run frame. KSC made miscues on each of the first two plays of the inning and three overall in the frame to set the stage for a rally quickly, falling behind 6-1 by the time the damage was done.
The Owls put two on in the fifth down but could not recapture the magic in Game 2, as Weiterman skied out. Marina Gronbach tossed a breezy fifth despite a two-out triple, and KSC then left two more on base (eight in six innings) in the sixth of a 6-1 game. Smith ended it via run-rule after scoring three times, all in the bottom half.
"The first game was a hit-fest on both sides!" said Owl head coach Haley Chandler. "Abby Weiterman, man…she had six RBI and two runs scored in Game 1. Two doubles, she was a machine at the plate. And a home run by Elyse Picard was great too. Meg (Strzegowski) did a great job of holding Smith at the end so we could come out on top. The second game was not our best. Violet Peverly threw a complete game and kept our hitters off balance. And we didn't do ourselves any favors on defense either. Consistency is the key at this level."
KSC travels to face Middlebury College on Wednesday, April 1 at 3:00 p.m.
