GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon Ladies put together another outstanding offensive performance as they swept a North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader against Wittenberg University on Saturday. With the wins, Kenyon improved to 17-13 and 4-2 in the conference.
GAME ONE
Kenyon shook off a slow start as it erupted for six runs in the fourth during a 7-5 win in the opener.
Leading up to that, Wittenberg got ahold of Ladies' pitching with a pair of runs in the second frame. Run-scoring hits by Lauren Buelow and Elise Freeland, when there were two out in the inning, broke the scoreless tie.
Then in fourth, Kenyon got in gear.
Nicole Bishay drove in Kenyon's first run as she singled to left field, plating
Grace Finn. A few batter later, first-year Sarah Campagna smoked a bases-clearing double to right center and pushed Finn,
Kassie Rimel and
Clare McMahon home. That hit pushed the scoredboard to 6-2, Ladies.
Wittenberg did pull close to Kenyon late, 7-5, with run-scoring hits from Freeland and Buelow. But after that, the Ladies turned to senior Austin Whibley who secured a save by tossing the final 1.1 innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit.
Teammate
Emily Pater earned the win for the Ladies in the circle and improved to 9-5 this season. Offensively, Finn and Rimal each had two hits.
GAME TWO
The Ladies turned their offense up a notch in game two as they scored two runs in four different innings.
Kenyon got out to a 2-0 lead as Campagna drove in a run on a two-bagger while Pilz added a sacrifice fly to right field.
Wittenberg followed in the second with a four spot to take the lead. Freeland hit an infield single before Missy Lee smacked a two-run double to right field to give the visitors a 3-2 advantage. Abby Curnutte registered the Tigers' fourth and final run as she hit a single to center field and plated Lee.
That prompted a pitching change for Kenyon and for the rest of the way, freshman
Tori Rogers kept the Wittenberg bats at bay.
She earned her first career win in the process as she tossed 4.1 innings, did not give up a run and induced 13 fly outs.
With Rogers holding things down in the circle, Kenyon's bats broke through again.
The Ladies tied the game at 4-4 in the third before scoring twice more in the fourth. Bishay connected with an RBI single which scored
Britny Patterson and that was followed up by a Rimel RBI groundout.
Rimel then highlighted the Kenyon attack with her first career home run which came in the sixth. A two-run shot to left field gave the Ladies their final margin at 8-4.
Lauren Graf and Bishay led the team with three hits each while Finn and Campagna each collected two.
Next on the schedule for Kenyon is a doubleheader against Denison University on April 17 at 3:30 p.m.
