GRANVILLE, Ohio – Pitching was the difference in Thursday's North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader. The host Denison University Big Red had it and the visiting Kenyon College Ladies did not. The result was a doubleheader sweep for Denison, which took the first game, 7-1, and then the second, 12-4.
Denison (8-4, 3-1 NCAC) used three pitchers throughout the afternoon and they combined to allow just three earned runs and eight hits in 13 innings of work. They also struck out 15 and walked just three.
Game one set the tone for both teams, as Denison starting pitcher Sarah Herold struck out eight and limited the Ladies (15-11, 1-3 NCAC) to one run on just three hits.
The Big Red broke out to leads of 4-0 after three innings and 7-0 after five innings. In the sixth, Kenyon cracked through to avoid the shutout. Senior
Madi Maldonado got things started with a single and later moved to third on another single from freshman
Grace Finn. Two batters later, sophomore
Lauren Graf popped out to second base, but Maldonado managed to score on the play.
Kenyon improved its offensive production in game two, but it wasn't enough. The Ladies got behind 2-0 and then tied it up 2-2 in the third inning. Denison retaliated with three more runs over the next two innings to build a 5-2 edge.
The Ladies, still battling, scored twice in the fifth inning to cut their deficit to just one run. The Big Red, however, had another answer, plating four in the bottom of the inning and three more in the sixth to blow things open.
Back in the third, Kenyon scored its pair of runs on a sacrifice from Finn and on an error by the Denison second baseman. In the fifth, the other two Kenyon runs scored on an RBI single from Graf and a sacrifice from
Juliana Delsante.
In the two games combined, Finn and
Kathryn Riggs both had two hits. Maldonado had one hit, but walked twice and scored three times. Maldonado, who is already Kenyon's career leader in walks, now has 18 free passes this season and 81 for her career.
Kenyon returns home and will next host The College of Wooster in a Saturday doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m.
