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Kenyon College Athletics

1
Ohio Wesleyan OWU 7-26
9
Winner Kenyon KENYON 18-19
Ohio Wesleyan OWU
7-26
1
Final
9
Kenyon KENYON
18-19
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Ohio Wesleyan OWU 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 0
Kenyon KENYON 0 3 0 0 6 9 4 0

W: Hamm, Kylie (9-6) L: Olivia Basil (3-10)

6
Ohio Wesleyan OWU 7-27
14
Winner Kenyon KENYON 19-19
Ohio Wesleyan OWU
7-27
6
Final
14
Kenyon KENYON
19-19
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
Ohio Wesleyan OWU 2 2 0 0 2 0 6 10 1
Kenyon KENYON 7 0 1 1 0 5 14 15 4

W: McCutchen, Allison (3-4) L: Emma Dahlstrom (0-6) S: Akin, Izzy (2)

Softball Seniors 2026
Khaliun Ganibal

Game Recap: Softball |

Owls generate Senior Day sweep

GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College softball team celebrated Saturday the four seniors on its roster and then put them to work during a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) doubleheader sweep of the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. The Owls put the run-rule into effect both times, winning game one, 9-1 in five innings, and then taking game two, 14-6 in six innings.

The four seniors—Madison Buckwalter, Allison McCutchen, Maeve McLaughlin, and Jillian Messinger—all made contributions, as the Owls, who have just two regular-season games left, inched closer to securing a spot in the upcoming four-team NCAC Tournament. Both Buckwalter and McLaughlin had two hits, two RBI, and scored two runs. McCutchen pitched three innings of game two and got the win, while Messinger logged an RBI before being hit by a pitch and removed from the game.

Kenyon, now with a 19-19 overall record and a 7-5 conference mark, gave up one run in the top of the first inning of game one. One inning later, however, the Owls gained their first lead, scoring three times.

Kylie Hamm (9-6), Kenyon's starting pitcher, kept the Battling Bishops offense quiet the rest of the way. She worked all five innings and gave up just the one run on five hits.

The game came to a quick end in the bottom of the fifth, after Kenyon scored six times, utilizing just three hits. The most important of those three hits was the last one, a Leah Kuban three-run, walk-off home run to straightaway center.

Kuban wasn't done there. In the fourth inning of game two, she blasted another home run, a solo shot to left center. By the time she was done, she had combined two-game numbers that included a 3-for-5 showing at the plate with three runs scored and five RBI. Kuban is just one home run and one RBI shy of tying the single-season conference records. Additionally, all her trips around the base gave her, temporarily, the program single-season record for total bases with 98.

Her total bases record was temporary because teammate Keala Montgomery went 5-for-5 in game two and now has 99 total bases this season. Twice in the second game, Montgomery launched shots out to the fence. In part of a seven-run first inning for Kenyon, she hit the top of the fence and the ball came back into play for a triple. In the third inning, she laced an RBI double off the right field fence. Montgomery, who had four RBI in game two, now has 20 hits in Kenyon's last eight games. She also has 61 hits on the season, a total that will probably rank top-five among all NCAA Division III players, when national stats are compiled on Tuesday.  

With Kenyon ahead 9-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Peyton Green ripped a base-loaded triple that plated three runs. She then scored on Emma Cashell's single up the middle to make it 13-6 in Kenyon's favor. A hit batter moved Cashell to second and then a single from Montgomery gave the Owls the eight-point cushion they needed to end the game early.

McCutchen (3-4) got the win in relief and Izzy Akin, who pitched a little more than an inning, picked up her second save of the season.

Kenyon now sits in a tie for third place in the conference standings and can realize its postseason hopes with a win at first-place DePauw University on Saturday. A College of Wooster loss against Denison University, also next Sunday, would also put the Owls in the postseason for the first time since 2019.
 
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