The Lady Panthers softball team swept the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen, 6-5 and 10-2, respectively in their last regular season games at D&M Park Sunday afternoon. The victories improved PSU’s record to 21-11 overall and 11-3 in the Little East Conference.
Plymouth shares first place in the LEC with Eastern Connecticut State University. Due to the LEC tiebreaker policy, Eastern Connecticut will be the number one seed with an overall record of 25-11 and host the LEC Tournament, while Plymouth will take the number two seed.
The Panthers plated sixteen runs off of twenty-eight hits in the doubleheader against RIC, including five doubles and three homeruns. The seniors celebrated Senior Day with a bang, going 15-for-27 at the plate, including three doubles, three homeruns, and eleven RBI’s.
Game one remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when freshman Masha Lange (Danville, N.H.) doubled to left center field and senior Bekah Jackson (Nashua, NH) belted her 11th homerun of the season, putting the Panthers up, 2-0.
Rhode Island responded with five runs of their own in the top of the fourth, but PSU plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score, 5-5. Freshman Nadia Wasuta (Jefferson, N.H.) knocked in a run with a single and senior Sam Hebert (Manchester, NH) recorded an RBI with a bases-loaded walk.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Panthers captured the win when senior captain Jackie Digman (Burlington, MA) drove in the winning run with a single to left field.
Senior Nora Galvin (Windham, NH) pitched a complete game, striking out a season-high ten batters to improve her record to 8-4.
The Panthers jumped to an early lead in the first inning of game two. Wasuta walked to reach first base and Jackson belted her 12th homerun of the season. She leads the LEC and continues to extend the school record. Freshman Katie Kennard (Concord, NH) contributed with a sacrifice fly and senior Taylor Mancini (Gansevoort, NY) singled to left to give Plymouth the lead, 4-0.
The Anchorwomen scored one run in both the second and third innings, but the Lady Panthers would not go scoreless after the second frame. Mancini recorded an RBI in the third. Digman blasted a two-run homerun, following a single from Hebert that sent Lange home for a three-run inning. Wasuta and Kennard recorded one RBI each in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively, to win the game.
Junior Whitney Roberts (Chocorua, NH) received the win on the mound, in game two, improving her record to 12-5 on the season. She allowed only two runs on eight hits, striking out one.
The Little East Conference Tournament begins Thurs., May 1 in Mansfield, Connecticut. The tournament schedule is to be determined.