WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Kenyon College softball team opened the 2022 season Sunday at Lee County Sports Complex. The Ladies poured on the offense in a 21-4 win over Martin Luther College and then relied on solid pitching to hang on for a 1-0 win against Albion College.
In game one, the Ladies needed just five innings to invoke the eight-run mercy rule against Martin Luther. In that short time, the Ladies cranked out 19 hits, including four doubles and a triple. After scoring six runs in the first inning and five in the second, the Kenyon women sealed the deal with a 10-run third inning.
Kenyon starters got three at-bats before giving way to substitutions in the middle of the third inning. Those starters who managed to post three hits in their three at-bats were Emily Buckwalter, Emily Pater and Nicole Archambeau. Clare McMahon had two hits, as did Sara Campagna.
Pater was the team’s starting pitcher. She went two innings before yielding to Tori Rogers, who also tossed two frames. Amanda Harris then finished off the fifth inning in the abbreviated contest. All three Kenyon pitchers gave up one earned run.
Sunday’s second game was the complete opposite of the first. The Ladies managed seven hits and just one run, but that’s all they needed thanks to solid defense and a stellar pitching performance from Nicole Bishay, who worked all seven innings and preserved the shutout by giving up just six hits and one walk. She struck out three and hit one batter, while getting her season off to a 1-0 start.
At the plate, Bishay also came through for the Ladies, generating the game’s only run. In the bottom of the fourth, Buckwalker singled to lead things off. Later in the innings, with two outs, Bishay doubled to left center field, bringing Buckwalter home.
Albion got runners into scoring position in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, but Bishay worked out of the majority of those jams with timely strikeouts.
