FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Kenyon Ladies softball team got its season off to a strong start on Sunday, winning over Finlandia University and Albion College at CenturyLink Sports Complex. Kenyon rolled Finlandia 16-0 before earning a hard-fought, 4-2 win against Albion.
GAME ONE
Grace Finn was 4-for-4 with four runs scored and she set a new Kenyon single-game record with four stolen bases as the Ladies' offense cranked out 16 runs on 16 hits. It was the most runs scored in a season opener for Kenyon, besting the previous mark of 14 set March 3, 2018 against Elms College.
Sophomore
Sara Campagna added a 4-for-5 mark with two RBI while
Emily Buckwalter, playing for the first time since March 9, 2019, tallied three hits and two RBI.
The Ladies got out to a 2-0 lead in the first before plating six in the second. With
Kathryn Riggs on third, Finn sent a shot up the middle bringing the team's third run across. Two sequences later, Campagna squeezed a ball inside the left-field line and scored Finn, pushing the score to 5-0. Kenyon's offensive onslaught was capped off by sophomore
Bella Albrecht's two-run single to left field.
Kenyon added eight more runs over the third through fifth innings.
In the circle, the Ladies used three pitchers.
Nicole Bishay tossed the first two frames and allowed three hits. Fellow sophomores
Sophia Gottdiener (1-0) and
Madde Hyland then pitched the last three and give up just two hits.
GAME TWO
A fast start paired with some good defense helped the Ladies defeat the Britons 4-2.
In the bottom of the first, Finn, Campagna and
Emily Pater started the frame with a walk and two singles, respectively. Senior
Lauren Graf, in the fifth at-bat, singled up the middle pushing Campagna across home.
An inning later, Kenyon got a trio of runs. With the bases loaded, Campagna found a shot to left field and scored Bishay and
Julia Holton. With a 3-0 lead, Buckwalter made it 4-0 when she connected with a sacrifice fly to right. That moved Finn across home.
Following that frame, however, Albion pitcher Ashley Pion buckled down. From the third through sixth innings, the Ladies placed just two in scoring position and Pion struck out four while inducing three flyouts.
That defense helped the Britons pull within two.
In the fourth, back-to-back singles with two outs from Skyler Herman and Shanyn Jewell scored Grace Connelly. Two frames later, Albion once again scored with two down. Jewell singled past third base and watched as Lauren Beougher ran home.
That turned out to be the last of the scoring for Albion, though. Pater (1-0) retired the next four batters to preserve victory. Her efforts included a pair of strikeouts and a combined 18 groundouts and flyouts.
Campagna and Graf led the offense with two hits each.
Tomorrow, the Ladies will play Grove City College and Drew University starting at 11 a.m.
