Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
HIRAM, Ohio (April 12, 2012) For a combined 11 innings Thursday, the Kenyon College softball team ran stride-for-stride with the Hiram College Terriers. The Ladies, however, fell off the pace in the final inning of both ends of the conference doubleheader and wound up the wrong side of 11-3 and 6-5 decisions.
In game one, Hiram drew first blood by scoring three runs off Kenyon starter
Maddy Stark in the bottom of the second inning. The Ladies' offense responded quickly and tacked on a three-spot of its own in the top of the third inning. After Stark reached base via a fielder's choice,
Jamie Samuel,
Chelsea Delaney, and
Toni Miller ripped three consecutive doubles.
The game remained tied 3-3 until the bottom of the sixth inning and that's when the Terriers blew the lid off things with eight consecutive hits. Those eight hits, six singles and two doubles, led to eight runs and an early end to game one.
In game two, Kenyon got a run in the second inning after Stark drew a bases-loaded walk. In the third, Samuel doubled and later came around to score on a Hiram error. The Terriers, who scored two unearned runs in the second inning, went on to post a single digit in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to take a 5-2 lead into the seventh and final inning.
The Ladies still had some fight left and did just enough to tie the game up at 5-5.
Liz Paterra led off the top of the seventh with a walk, Stark doubled, and
Hayley Howard singled home Paterra. Samuel and Miller then plated the other two Kenyon runs with RBI groundouts.
With new life, the Ladies and Samuel, who pitched the entire second game, got the first Hiram batter to fly out in the bottom of the seventh. After that, the next two Hiram batters laced back-to-back doubles to plate the winning run and complete the two-game sweep.
Delaney finished off the doubleheader with a combined four hits in seven at-bats for Kenyon. Samuel, who is now hitting .472 for the season, added three hits, and Miller chipped in with two.
The losses set Kenyon's records back to 11-19 overall and 3-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Hiram improved to 11-13 overall and 3-3 in conference competition.
