WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Two more wins Monday moved the Kenyon College softball team’s unbeaten streak to nine games and improved the Ladies overall record to 13-1, marking the best start to a season in program history.
The Ladies got solid pitching once again, but it was the bats that did the most damage. In game one, the Ladies piled up 13 hits in an 11-3 victory over Skidmore College. In game two, they posted nine more hits in a 10-1 run-rule win against Wilmington College.
The run-rule victory was the Ladies’ fifth of the season. Through 14 games, the Kenyon offense is averaging nearly nine runs a game and has outscored opponents 125-32.
In keeping with that theme, Grace Finn opened Monday’s play with a lead-off home run to center field. It was her first of the season and fifth of her Kenyon career.
Two innings later, the Ladies broke the game open with a two-run single from Emily Buckwalter and a two-run double from Nicole Archambeau.
The score remained 5-0 until the top of the seventh inning. In that final frame, the Ladies unloaded six more hits and scored six times to put the game out of reach for good.The big hit came from Buckwalter, who smacked another two-run single and, by the end of the day, extended her hitting streak to seven games. Bella Albrecht, Natalya Delsante, Sara Campagna and Paige Milhon also had an RBI in the big inning.
Buckwalter finished the game 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBI. Maddie Friday, batting in the ninth spot, went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Finn finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI.
Kenyon starting pitcher Emily Pater cruised through six innings of work. She struggled a bit in the seventh before being relieved, but she still picked up the win and improved to 6-1. In six innings of work, she allowed two earned runs on eight hits, while striking out four.
In game two against Wilmington, the Kenyon bats were somewhat quiet until the sixth inning. Going into that inning, the Ladies held a 2-1 lead. Before Wilmington could get out of the inning, the Ladies scored eight times.
Kenyon first scored in the sixth on a passed ball. Friday later ripped a two-run single through the left side to give the Ladies a 5-1 lead. Two batters later, Campagna doubled home two more Kenyon runs. A bases-loaded walk to Archambeau followed and then Delsante was hit by a pitch, moving Kenyon’s advantage to 9-1. Nicole Bishay, the starting pitcher, then singled to plate Kenyon’s final run of the day.
Bishay, who was just named the North Coast Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, held Wilmginton to one run on two hits. She walked two and struck out three.
At the plate, Bishay and Campagna were both 2-for-4 against Wilmignton. Campagna’s stat line also included two runs and two RBI. Finn scored two more runs, while Friday and Buckwalter had two RBI apiece.
