GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon Ladies swept Hiram College in a North Coast Athletic Conference softball doubleheader on Saturday and earned the right to compete in next weekend's four-team conference tourney. It marks the first since 2013 that Kenyon will have played for the NCAC Championship.
GAME
ONE
The Terriers scored single runs from the second through fifth innings and had a 4-2 lead before two costly errors in the sixth allowed the Ladies to get ahead for good.
Kenyon got off on the right foot in the first as
Sara Campagna scored from second after an error by Hiram's second baseman ricocheted into the outfield.
Then in the second,
Grace Finn broke a 1-1 tie with a single to left field which scored
Emily Pater.
Over the next few innings, though, Kenyon did not get ahold of Hiram pitcher Bailey Scheck. In that span, the Terrier bats came through to the tune of three runs, which all came with two out in the innings. The visitor's fourth run in the fifth was delivered by Chase Martinez who singled through the left side and scored Giselle Bahena.
Down by two in the sixth, Kenyon found magic. Early in the frame, Pater and
Lauren Graf singled. A couple batters later,
Clare McMahon drove in Graf with a shot through the right side. Down 4-3, the Ladies then tied the game with another single, this one from Finn.
With the pressure mounting, Hiram folded. With two out, a pop-up from Campagna was dropped by Hiram's second baseman and in the same sequence, a throwing error from its catcher allowed two more to score.
With a 7-4 lead, the Ladies did allow Hiram to get two on in the seventh; however, no runs came across. Pater (13-6) struck out four and induced 16 groundballs by game's end.
GAME TWO
The Ladies got out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back in the 8-2 game-two win. After a scoreless first, freshman
Nicole Bishay smacked her first career homer, this one a two-run shot, and pushed the Ladies ahead 2-0.
In the next frame, Campagna and
Grace Pilz recorded RBI doubles to extend the lead to 4-0.
Hiram was able to pull within two as Nikki Budner and Bahena each drove in runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, but Kenyon pitchers
Austen Whibley and
Keely Sweet wouldn't allow anything the rest of the way.
In the bottom of the fifth, Kenyon added four more runs for its final margin. Pilz and Bishay each registered RBI doubles while Graf drove in two with a single.
Offensively, Pilz went 3-for-3 with two RBI while Bishay had two hits and three runs driven in. For Whibley, she was solid, pitching 5.2 innings, giving up one earned run and inducing a combined 14 groundouts and flyouts.
Tomorrow, the Ladies will face off with conference leader DePauw University at 3 p.m. for another doubleheader.
