CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Kenyon College (4-2) split a pair of games on Thursday during the Gene Cusic Classic at the Cape Coral Sports Complex. The Ladies fell 7-3 to Mount Saint Mary College before bouncing back against York College of Pennsylvania 8-5.
GAME ONEThe Ladies got out to a 2-0 lead against MSMC in the bottom of the first after
Lindsey Susolik smacked a two-run home run over the left field fence. It was her first homer of the year.
But the hot start didn't last as the next two innings saw the Knights retire all six Ladies batters.
Mount Saint Mary used that and a costly error from Kenyon in the top of the third to take control of the game. After Taylor Canto hit a one-out double to right center, designated player Danielle Soto lined a shot to shortstop. Had the ball been caught, it would have resulted in a double play. But it fell to the ground and put runners on the corners. Two batters later, Courtney Barbara had a run-scoring hit that tied the game at 2. The next two at-bats from Kathryn Eiler and Colleen Dunn resulted in three runs batted in and a 5-2 lead for the Knights.
Kenyon looked poised to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and no one out, but Dunn limited the damage giving up just one run to the Ladies. That came on a RBI hit from
Hayley Howard.
The Knights gave up just two more hits in the final three innings and added a pair of insurance runs for the final margin of 7-3.
GAME TWOYork (PA) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second but Kenyon didn't panic and eventually prevailed over the Spartans by an 8-5 count.
York pitcher Courtney Martin gave her team a 2-0 advantage early as she singled through the left side bringing in a pair of runners. The Spartans added one more run in the second as Jayci Cristaudo hit an infield single scoring another.
The Ladies fought back in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 3-2. Howard grounded a ball to the Spartans second baseman who then made a throwing error allowing
Nicole Horita and
Chelsea Delaney to score.
Kenyon tied the game in the fourth as Howard had an infield single scoring Horita.
The Spartans regained the lead, 4-3, in the top of the fifth as Megan Martin singled to left field scoring Katie Maloney.
The Ladies fought back again to tie the contest at 4 in the fifth when
Amanda Coyle singled and scored
Liz Paterra. In the next at-bat,
Danielle Elizarraraz roped a shot to right field bringing in another Ladies base-runner, this time giving the visitors from Ohio a lead it never relinquished. Two more runs came in that inning on a York error and by the end of the frame, Kenyon held a 7-4 lead.
For good measure, Susolik socked her second home run of the day over center field to get the final tally of 8-5.
Susolik and Delaney each had two hits while Howard drove in three runs.
Maddy Stark (2-1) earned the win tossing a complete game, scattering seven hits, and fanning four.
Kenyon returns to action March 6 when they face Olivet College at 11 a.m. and Milwaukee School of Engineering at 1 p.m.
Junior Lindsey Susolik hit two home runs during Kenyon's games against Mount Saint Mary College and York College
of Pennsylvania Thursday. The Ladies split the two games and moved their recod to 4-2.
