KEENE, N.H. – Plymouth State University scored nearly half of their runs of Tuesday's doubleheader in the first inning – seven of 15 – as the visiting Panthers went on to sweep the Keene State College softball team by scores of 12-3 (5 innings) and 3-2 at the Owl Athletic Complex in Little East Conference action.
The victories greatly solidified the Panthers' (17-16-1, 9-5 LEC) postseason chances, now sitting in third place, but were incredibly damaging to the Owls' (16-19, 4-10 LEC) hopes. KSC now must sweep the University of Massachusetts-Boston on the road on the final day of the regular season on Saturday and have the University of Southern Maine lose at least one to last place Western Connecticut State University (1-13 LEC) on Saturday. After splitting their first four league doubleheaders, including against top four teams Vermont State University Castleton (currently in first) and Eastern Connecticut State University (currently in fourth), KSC has now dropped six conference games in a row.
In most of the recent losses, it has been a tale of one inning breaking open a game, and that was the case in the opener, as Plymouth began the day with a five-run first inning before piling on two in the second and four in the third to make it 9-0. They would wind up banging out 15 hits and had a whopping six multi-hit efforts. KSC's pitching staff also walked seven and hit a batter, with the free passes particularly damaging in the first inning as they walked three straight to load the bases with all of them eventually scoring. Kenzie Bessette reached on a bunt single to begin the frame, but
Abby Weiterman picked her off at first base. Emily Bessette then restored the runner at first by taking ball four after a long at bat, and Avery Couch and Abbey Nezuch then walked on four pitches each before Ariana Cray lined a gap double to right center to make it 2-0 with still two on. Cray then took second before Eva Zuber was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Addison Willett brought home a third run with a groundout to short, but Kennedy Michaud followed with what might have been the biggest hit of the frame, a two-run double to left that made it 5-0.
That would be more than enough support for Allie Cecere (10-4), who allowed three runs and five hits over three innings while walking two and whiffing three. The highlight offensively for KSC was
Gianna Garofola's solo home run in the fourth, her third of the season, to spoil the shutout. The Owls then tacked on two in the fifth on
Abby Weiterman's two-run single.
The second game turned into a battle in the circle between
Ashley Connor and Emily Antrim in the circle, with a fifth inning sacrifice fly by Couch driving home pinch-runner Gianna Dispirito with the eventual game-winning run after Kiera Larson began the inning by taking a five-pitch walk. Dispirito was sacrificed to second with a bunt and moved to third on Emily Bessette's single before scoring on Couch's fly ball. KSC was never able to put the tying run on base after that against Antrim (5-7), who retired the final 13 in a row after Garofola tied the game at two with an infield single to short in the third.
The Panthers again played from ahead, as an RBI double by Nezuch and a run-scoring single by Cray helped stake the visitors to a 2-0 lead right away in the first, but Connor avoided further damage by getting Zuber to ground to short before striking out Willett. KSC generated their own rally in the bottom half, as
Anna Gostkowski led off with a single and Picard followed two batters later with a base hit of her own to put runners on the corners with one out. Picard took second to put two in scoring position, but a fielder's choice grounder that cut down the run at the plate proved big.
Cainen Avery did rescue a run by pulling a base hit into left to make it 2-1. The score stayed there until the Owls tied it in the third, but the first and third innings ultimately represented their only key chances to score.
Connor (3-6) allowed five hits and three runs in a complete game effort. She walked five and struck out one, while also getting 14 ground ball outs.
Antrim allowed six hits and two runs in her own complete game, walking run and striking out four.
The two arms threw nearly exactly the same number of pitches – Connor 119 and Antrim 116.
KSC has lost five straight in the series and will close their home schedule on Thursday (April 13) with a non-conference doubleheader against Framingham State University (14-20, 8-6 MASCAC) beginning at 3:00 p.m. Saturday's twinbill at UMass-Boston will begin at 1:00 p.m.
