NAPLES, Fla. – A pair of shutout wins lifted Kenyon College to its first 4-0 start since 2014 after victories against Rivier University and New Jersey City University on Sunday morning. The Ladies won 8-0 against the Raiders before securing a 3-0 win against the Gothic Knights.
Dating back to yesterday's 6-0 triumph against Clark, Kenyon has won its last three contests in shutout fashion, a program first since the start of the 1998 season.
GAME ONE
Amanda Coyle pitched five scoreless innings against Rivier and allowed just two hits as she earned her first win of the season. The senior also induced a combined 11 groundouts and flyouts.
Offensively,
Britny Patterson led the Ladies going 3-for-3 with two runs batted in. As a team, Kenyon went 12-for-24 with seven players collecting hits.
The Raiders nearly scored to start the game as Tayla LeGrand and Julia Dailey reached scoring position on stolen bases. However, a fielder's choice in the next at-bat resulted in
Grace Pilz tagging out Dailey at third. Coyle then struck out Mikayla Ramsdell to end the threat.
In the home half of the first, Patterson converted Kenyon's defensive stop into offense. With
Grace Finn on second, Patterson smacked a double pushing the first-year across home plate.
Emily Buckwalter later scored from third after a throwing error by Rivier's catcher.
Kenyon added another run in the third before plating four in the fourth frame.
Madi Maldonado hit a two-run single while Buckwalter and
Lauren Graf added run-scoring hits. Those connections extended the Ladies' lead to 7-0.
An inning later,
Nicole Horita scored from third on a wild pitch invoking the run rule and ending the game.
GAME TWO
Keely Sweet followed up Coyle's performance with a complete-game shutout against NJCU. Sweet surrendered just a pair of hits, struck out two and allowed the defense behind her to record seven flyouts and 11 groundouts.
New Jersey City's first 10 batters were retired in the process.
Through the first three innings, Kenyon managed to get three base-runners into scoring position. However, Kenyon was not able to capitalize. The scoreless game finally broke Kenyon's way in the fifth.
Back-to-back singles from Coyle and Maldonado, followed by two stolen bases, put runners in scoring position for the Ladies. Finn followed with a two-run double moving Kenyon ahead 2-0. Buckwalter added the team's final run on a one-out RBI groundout plating Finn.
In the seventh, the Gothic Knights had runners on the corners with two outs; however, Maldonado threw out Melisaa Mendoza from third base on a grounder.
The Ladies will try to remain unbeaten when they play University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and Waynesburg University tomorrow starting at 9 a.m.
