FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Kenyon College softball team moved its early-season record to 4-0 after another pair of wins,Monday.
The Ladies started the day with a 1-0 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and ended the day by rallying for a 7-4 win against University of Pitt-Bradford.
Kenyon starting pitcher Emily Pater worked in and out of danger throughout Monday's first game with RIT, which left nine runners on base, including seven in scoring position. In the first, third, fifth and sixth innings, the Tigers left a runner stranded on third. She worked all seven innings, allowed eight hits, no walks and struck out a pair to move to 2-0 with a 0.78 earned run average.
At the plate, the Ladies managed just three hits off RIT starter Lexi Pieri, who went four innings. When the Tigers moved Crystal Madore to the pitching circle, the Ladies greeted her with a couple of singles and the game's only run. Facing Madore in the top of the fifth inning, Clare McMahon started things off with a single up the middle for Kenyon. Maddie Friday then sacrificed her to second. Following a groundout, Sara Campagna laced a two-out single to left center that scored McMahon with what would hold up as the game-winning run.
In the second game, starting pitcher Nicole Bishay and the Ladies gave up a single run in each of the first three innings. In the bottom of the third, however, the Ladies' offense came alive with the help of some Pitt-Bradford miscues. Singles from Natalya Delsante, Grace Finn and Bella Albrecht, coupled with two Pitt-Bradford errors and four wild pitches, cleared the way for the Kenyon women to tap the plate four times and take a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Friday singled home Persy Hort. Delsante, who got aboard via a base on balls, scored on a sacrifice fly from Sara Campagna. That pushed the Ladies' lead to 6-3.
Emily Buckwalter, Campagna and Finn had a two-hit day for Kenyon, while Albrecht ended up a combined 3-for-6 with one run scored.
Bishay settled into a rhythm after the first three innings and pitched the remainder of the game.
Throughout the two games, the Ladies displayed their speed, stealing seven bases in as many attempts. Finn and Hort each swiped a pair of bags on the day and helped improve the Ladies' season tally to 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts.
The following day, the Ladies split a doubleheader, losing the first in eight innings to Rockford, 12-9, and taking the nightcap from New Jersey City, 8-0.
