The Plymouth State softball team spilt a pair on the first day of the double-elimination Little East Conference Tournament. Following a loss against Keene State College, the Lady Panthers eliminated the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University.
PSU played a hard fought game against the fifth-seeded Keene State Owls in their first game of the LEC Tournament. The Panthers jumped to an early lead, 2-0, in the first inning when senior Bekah Jackson (Nashua, NH) hit a RBI double to left center and senior Sam Hebert (Manchester, NH) got on with an infield hit. Keene came back from the deficit in the top of the third following a three-run homerun. Plymouth freshman Katie Kennard (Concord, NH) hit a two-run double in the bottom of third inning to put the Panthers back in the lead, 4-3.
The Owls evened the score, 4-4, in the top of the sixth with another homerun, and took the final lead in the top of the seventh, 5-4, with a RBI double. The Panthers were unable to capture the lead again, and left a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh.
Senior Nora Galvin (Windham, NH) received the loss on the mound. She pitched a complete game allowing five runs on eight hits, striking out four. Her personal record fell to 8-5 on the season.
In game two, Plymouth State upset the Eastern Connecticut Warriors, eliminating the top seed from the LEC Tournament, who had previously lost to the sixth-seeded Rhode Island College. The Panthers opened the game 1-0 with a RBI single up the middle from Hebert. Later, in the third PSU scored another run with a RBI single to left from Jackson to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Eastern Connecticut got on the board with a solo homerun. The Lady Panthers responded with four runs in the top of the sixth, extending the lead to 6-1. Hebert recorded another RBI with a double to right, Kennard and junior Whitney Roberts (Chocorua, NH) contributed RBI singles, and junior Cynthia Barata (New Fairfield, CT) recorded a RBI with a fielder’s choice.
The Warriors scored one run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Panthers did not slow down scoring another three runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 9-2. Jackson recorded her thirteenth homerun of the season and her twenty-sixth of her career, extending the PSU record. Kennard belted her first homerun of the season with a two-run homerun to left field. Eastern fought back scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough.
Roberts recorded the win on the mound allowing six runs on twelve hits, striking out two. In the end of the seventh inning, Galvin came in as relief allowing one run on one hit, striking out one.
The victory guaranteed Plymouth another game in the second day of the LEC Tournament.