WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
GREENCASTLE, Ind. –Taking on No. 6-ranked DePauw University in the regular-season finale, the Kenyon College softball team gave the host Tigers all they could handle before dropping a couple of one-run games on Sunday.
The Tigers rallied for a 4-3 victory in game one of the doubleheader and then pulled off another rally in game two, stealing a 3-2 win in extra innings.
The losses finalized Kenyon’s records at 24-16 overall and 6-10 within North Coast Athletic Conference play. The Ladies’ total of 24 wins is their best output since the 2015 team won 29 games. In the other dugout, DePauw improved to 30-6 overall and a perfect 14-0 in NCAC competition.
The Ladies made their presence known early on, as they opened the first inning of the first game with a hit batter and three singles. Grace Finn, Kenyon’s leadoff batter, took the hit-by-pitch. Sara Campagna singled, Bella Albrecht singled and then Natalya Delsante singled to score Finn. The run not only gave Kenyon a 1-0 lead, but it was Finn’s 44th of the season and the 150th of her career, tying her with Madi Maldonado for Kenyon’s all-time record.
DePauw bounced back, scoring two in the bottom of the second inning and one more in the third. Kenyon, however, wouldn’t back down. The Ladies got an RBI single from Maddie Friday that scored Clare McMahon in the top of the fourth. Then, in the top of the fifth, the Ladies tied things up at 3-3 when Nicole Bishay smacked a sacrifice fly that scored Albrecht.
The Tigers came back again, this time to seal the win. In the bottom of the sixth, the home club used a walk, a double and then a single to pull ahead for good.
Bishay was the tough-luck loser for Kenyon in the pitcher’s circle. She went six innings and gave up four earned runs on 10 hits and three walks, while fanning three DePauw batters.
In game two, senior Tori Rogers took on starting pitching duties. She went a little more than four innings and held the Tigers scoreless on four hits. Emily Pater relieved Rogers in the fifth inning and went the rest of the way.
Both teams scored one run in the sixth inning. Kenyon tallied its run on a sacrifice fly from Madde Hyland. DePauw scored its run on a single followed by a double. From there, things remained deadlocked at one apiece until the 10th inning.
In that third extra frame, Friday struck again for the Ladies. She smacked a single up the middle to score Kassie Rimel, giving the Ladies a 2-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the inning, DePauw had another answer, tying the game on an RBI groundout and then winning it with a bases-loaded single.
Friday had Kenyon’s best day at the plate, going a combined 3-for-7 with two RBI. Albrecht and McMahon both had two-hit days with one run scored.
