The Plymouth State softball team dropped three of four games this weekend to their Connecticut rivals; Eastern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University.
On Sat., Apr. 5, the Lady Panthers spilt a doubleheader in their Little East Conference opener at the Eastern Softball Stadium. Senior Jackie Digman (Burlington, MA) hit a homerun in the seventh inning to bring in the tying run, forcing the game into extra innings. Senior Bekah Jackson (Nashua, N.H.) hit a home run to take the lead in the top of the eighth, but Eastern Connecticut brought in two runs to capture the victory in the opener, 4-3.
In the top of the first inning of game two, Masha Lange (Danville, N.H.) began the scoring off a single from Nicole Abreu (Hudson, N.H.). Later, Digman scored another run putting the Panthers up 2-0. Plymouth got another run in the second inning, but Eastern Connecticut rallied for two runs. At the bottom of the third, the game was all tied up at 3-3. Plymouth answered with three runs in the next inning, sealing the win, 7-3. Junior Whitney Roberts (Chocorua, N.H.) recorded the win, improving to 4-2 on the season.
On Sun., Apr. 6, Plymouth State dropped two tight games to Western Connecticut State University. In the first inning, Western took an early lead off of an unearned run. Plymouth responded in the second when Abreu and freshman Katie Kennard (Concord, N.H.) started the inning with a single and a double, respectively. Abreu was tagged out at home, but Kennard scored on an infield grounder from junior Cynthia Barata (New Fairfield, CT), tying the score. Western scored one run in the third and two in the fifth taking the lead, 4-1. Plymouth fought back scoring one run in the seventh, but couldn’t come up with the other two runs needed to knot the game at 4-4.
Jackson started off the second game by reaching first on an error by Western. Runners were safe on second and third after a fielder’s choice and a single by Digman. Abreu drove in the two runners with a single to right, which gave the Panthers the lead, 2-0. Western got one run back in the bottom of the third, but tied the score in the bottom of the fifth. Neither Plymouth nor Western were able to score in the sixth nor the seventh, sending the game into extra innings. In both the eighth and the ninth, the Panthers had runners in scoring position, but failed to score. Western ended the game in the bottom of the ninth, scoring the winning run off a single to left-center.
The team will travel down to UMass Dartmouth and New England College, respectively, for double-headers against both opponents, this weekend.