KEENE, N.H. – When Elyse Picard stepped up to the plate with two on and two down in the bottom of the third and the Keene State College softball team trailing 2-0 in the second game of a Little East Conference doubleheader, it had been a frustrating Saturday to that point.  The Owls had dropped the opener 7-1, stranding 10 on base, and came up empty in their first two trips of the nightcap while seeing the University of Southern Maine put up single runs in the second and third innings to again play from ahead.  One big swing later, the entire feel of the day changed, as the Owls took their first lead before Megan Strzegowski and Marina Gronbach teamed up for four consecutive scoreless innings as KSC went on to a 5-2 Senior Day victory at the Owl Athletic Complex.

KSC moved to 14-11 overall, 4-4 in conference play, and is now 10-3 when allowing fewer than seven runs.  In other words, when they get solid efforts in the circle, they win nearly 77 percent of the time.  And the Owls' pair of arms – Strzegowski (6-0) and Gronbach, a first year, came through, inducing 12 ground ball outs.

The offensive backing came in the form of the sizzling Picard, who has made her case for Little East Player of the Week with a 6-for-11 mark in five games since last Monday, adding three home runs, two doubles, and eight runs batted in.  Her three-run blast in the third came at a big time, as Cainen Avery beat out a bunt single with one out to begin the rally before Kalle Halvorsen pulled a single past shortstop and into left with two outs two batters later.  After fouling off two pitches and taking two balls to get back to even, Picard tattooed a pitch that might have been up and out of the zone from Mia Coots (9-6) and appeared to be toward the outer half of the plate, lofting it over the fence in left field to put her team up 3-2.

The Owls' pitching and defense carried the way from there, as Halvorsen made a pair of sterling plays in the fourth including a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Aislin Davis trying to score on an Emily Wheeler double to end the inning and keep KSC in front.  Marina Gronbach then fired a 1-2-3 fifth on 10 pitches, including a softly hit comebacker back to the circle by Ella Bezanson for the third out, and the Owls tacked on two big insurance runs in the fifth.  It was another uprising sparked by Avery, who hit the left center gap for a double before moving to third on Anna Gostkowski's fly ball to right.  Halvorsen then singled to short with Avery not advancing to put two on, and RBI-machine Picard (now 36 on the season) tacked on another to make it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly.  Abby Weiterman then ripped a run-scoring double to left center to bring home Halvorsen to put the Owls up three.

That was more than enough for Gronbach, who got three infield ground balls including two more back to her in a scoreless sixth.  Still up three and eyeing her first career collegiate save in the seventh, Southern Maine (18-9, 2-6 LEC) brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out when Davis singled and Emily Wheeler laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit.  But head coach Haley Chandler stuck with her rookie, who then expertly extracted herself from trouble, getting Olivia Levasseur to hit a routine fly ball to right and then Kendall Migliorini to double into a 6-4-3 double play to end it – a fitting end to a game where KSC turned in several strong defensive plays.

Strzegowski allowed six hits and two runs over four innings, walking two and striking out one, before Gronbach allowed only two hits in three scoreless innings for the save.

Coots was tagged for eight hits and five runs over five innings.  She struck out four for USM, who entered the day on a four-game winning streak and was nine games over .500 overall despite an uglier conference record.  However, Keene State's win keeps them in the middle of the Little East standings having split the eight games.  The Owls have played both the current top two and bottom two teams in the standings, with matchups against teams around them looming as the second half of the league slate approaches.

In addition to Picard, Abby Weiterman finished 2-for-3 with a double.  Avery also was 2-for-3 with a two-bagger and scored twice, while Halvorsen was 2-for-2.

Davis and Wheeler combined to go 5-for-8 in the top two spots of the Huskies' order, but it was not enough to see their 13-game winning streak in the series end.

In the opener, KSC had no answers for Mackenzie Kingsbury (4-0) – who despite a negative strikeout-to-walk ratio entering the day and a complete game effort in which she did not strike anybody out – who pitched a four-hitter and allowed just one unearned run.  The Owls' lone run-scoring frame came in the third when Gostkowski walked with one out and eventually scored on an RBI single by Weiterman.  Trailing 3-1, KSC still had two on, but Kingsbury got Jayme Kiley to fly to right.  A rough fourth inning then zapped any momentum the Owls might have been trying to build, as three straight singles loaded the bases with nobody out.  Initially it seemed the home team was actually going to supercharge their momentum after Ashley Connor got Levasseur to bounce into a 1-2-3 double play, but Kristina Yebba followed with an infield base hit to make it 4-1.  A crushing three-run miscue on a fly ball to left came next as USM suddenly put four on the board to take complete control, which Kingsbury never relinquished.

Connor (2-4) started and allowed 10 hits and seven runs, four earned.  She walked two and struck out two.  She did induce seven ground ball outs.  Olivia Souers then pitched three one-hit innings, but KSC's next biggest threat did not come until the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs before a hard-hit line drive to second ended the game.

Keene State is back home on Tuesday (April 21) for a doubleheader against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (18-8, 5-3 LEC) at 2:30 p.m.