DANBURY, Conn. – It was a tale of two rallies that came up just short on Saturday at the Westside Field, as the Keene State College softball team held on for a 10-9 win in the opener of a Little East Conference doubleheader before Western Connecticut State University clung to a one-run, 7-6 win in the nightcap.
The Owls move to 10-8 and have split their first four league games, while WestConn is 10-14 and 1-5 in conference play.
KSC got off to a strong start with a four-run first in the opener and seemed well in command in the sixth, taking a 10-3 lead in the sixth after
Elyse Picard cracked an RBI double and
Kalle Halvorsen scored on a passed ball. But the Wolves nearly came storming back, putting up six in their half of the sixth – an inning that began with an error, a single, and two walks – to get back within a run. Later, with two outs, five straight batters reached including a three-run double by Kendall Allen to make it 10-6 before Victoria Wiatrak had an RBI single and Julia Valukis an RBI triple to make it 10-8. An error brought in the final run of the inning, but KSC steadied themselves when
Megan Strzegowski got Angelina Avila to fly to left
Olivia Souers then fired a scoreless seventh to pick up the save, only allowed a runner with two outs on her own error before getting Allen to bounce to second to end the game.
It was a tough defensive day for WestConn, who made five errors in the opener including two in the first inning, another in the fourth, and two more in the fifth as KSC ran out to a big early lead. The Owls had three hits in the first, but none that drove in a run, as they made it 4-0 on a wild pitch, a ground out, and two miscues. An error in the third helped make it 5-1, but the Wolves answered in the bottom half to stay within 5-3. It was short-lived, though, as an error and two singles to begin the fourth including an RBI by
Ashley Connor made it 6-3 before an error and a sacrifice fly brought home two more.
The top five in the Owls' order combined for seven of their 10 hits, including a 2-for-2 effort with a double for Picard, who also drove in two and walked. Halvorsen tripled as part of her 2-for-4 showing, while
Gianna Garofola and
Abby Weiterman also added doubles.
Strzegowski (3-0) got the win, allowing five hits and six unearned runs in three innings. She walked four.
Lindsay Farinaccio fell to 2-9 and took the loss, allowing six hits and eight runs (two earned) in five innings. She walked two and whiffed four. Allen finished 3-for-5 and drove in five runs.
KSC was unable to make it a sweep despite five more miscues by WestConn in the second game, as the Wolves scored three times in the first and two more in the third to build a 5-0 advantage. The Owls began chipping away late but ultimately left the tying run in scoring position in the seventh. Trailing 7-3, KSC got a leadoff single by Weiterman before Garofola reached on a botched fly ball to right. Pinch-hitter Connor then came through with a single that would have loaded the bases, but an error by Valukis in left allowed everybody to move up an extra base and scored a run.
Cainen Avery then came through with an RBI base hit to make it 7-5 and put the tying run on base, but Olivia Bordenaro (7-4) struck out two of the final three batters sandwiching
Marina Gronbach's grounder to short that plated a run and moved Avery – the tying run – into scoring position with two outs.
The Owls had gotten on the board in the fifth to make it 5-2 on a Weiterman RBI single and
Jayme Kiley sacrifice fly, and then got within two an inning later when Strzegowski doubled, Gronbach singled, and
Anna Gostkowski plated a run with an infield grounder, but WestConn added what proved to be two critical insurance runs in the bottom half on a two-run single by Allen.
Souers (1-3) took the loss in the circle for KSC, allowing six hits and five runs in 2.1 innings while walking one. Bordenaro allowed nine hits and six runs (two earned) in a complete game effort, walking four and striking out seven.
"It was a battle at the plate today," said Owls head coach Haley Chandler. "
Kalle Halvorsen set us up strong in the first game with a triple and
Elyse Picard reached base in all four plate appearances, so the lineup was hot in game one. But in game two, we waited too long to string hits together and it bit us. We had hits (
Abby Weiterman 3-for-4) and runners in scoring position, but struggled to cash in. However, I think
Jaelyn Boretti did a great job coming in after Liv and slowed things down, and
Hailey Merrill did exactly what we needed her to do – get an out. And she did us one better and gave us the opportunity for a double play."
The split continues somewhat of a remarkable trend between the two teams – who have now split in 11 of their last 12 doubleheaders.
Keene State will be back in Connecticut on Tuesday (April 14) to take on Eastern Connecticut State University (13-9, 4-2 LEC) for a 3:30 p.m. start. The Warriors were swept by now first-place Vermont State University Castleton 3-0 and 3-1 in Vermont today.
