Middlebury Splits with Panthers

The Plymouth State softball team split a doubleheader with Middlebury College Tuesday afternoon at D&M Park. Middlebury defeated Plymouth in game one, 6-5, but Plymouth came back for the victory in game two, 8-3.

Middlebury jumped to an early lead plating four runs in the first inning of the opener. PSU scored one run in the second frame with an RBI double by junior Whitney Roberts (Chocorua, NH).  Middlebury responded with another run in the top of third inning.  Plymouth senior Bekah Jackson (Nashua, NH) answered by blasting a two-run homerun in the bottom of the inning. The homerun left Jackson at the top of the Little East Conference in homeruns recording her eighth on the season. In the fourth inning, freshman Masha Lange (Danville, NH) tripled home a run and came home on an error. In the top of the sixth frame, PSU walked in the winning run. The Panthers left two runners on base in the seventh, but could not score.

Plymouth put it all together in game two, taking an early lead in the first inning, 2-0. The runs came after a double by Lange and a triple by Jackson. Middlebury got on the board in the second frame after a walk and two wild pitches, but Plymouth took a large lead plating four runs in the bottom of the second by a grand slam from Jackson to right field that broke the PSU single-season homerun record. Jackson leads the LEC with a .461 batting average, a school-record nine homeruns, and 34 RBIs. Middlebury singled home a run in the fourth, but PSU answered with two runs of their own on a Jackson groundout and an RBI single by senior Jackie Digman (Burlington, MA).

Freshman Callie Abbott (Atco, NJ) recorded her first career win on the mound for PSU, pitching six innings and allowing three runs on four hits and five walks, striking out two.

Thursday afternoon, Plymouth took two from Keene State rivals in a conference matchup at D&M Park. The Panthers plated thirteen runs on seventeen hits defeating Keene, 7-1 and 6-3, respectively.  PSU has won eight straight conference games improving to 19-11 overall and 9-3 in the LEC.

Plymouth State swung the bats well; with five players recording two hits each and four players belting homeruns. Junior Sam Hebert led PSU with five hits and three RBIs. The homeruns came from seniors Jackson and Digman and freshmen Lange and Katie Kennard (Concord, NH).  Jackson became Plymouth State's all-time softball homerun leader after recording her 23^rd career homerun and extended her single-season record to ten.

PSU got an early lead on the Owls, scoring two runs in the first inning. Both Lange and Jackson singled and stole second base. Lange scored on a wild pitch and Jackson got home on single to right by Hebert. Keene State didn't get on the board until the fifth inning with an unearned run from two PSU errors. The Panthers secured the win with two runs in the bottom of the fifth by a homerun from Digman and three in the bottom of the sixth by a homerun from Lange.

Senior Nora Galvin (Windham, NH) recorded the win for Plymouth with a complete game effort, allowing only one unearned run on five hits and three walks. Her record improved to 7-4 on the season and lowered her ERA to 1.77, the third-best in the LEC. The win marked her 31^st career victory, putting her into second place on the PSU career wins list. She sits behind Kim Jeffs whose record was 66-36 from 2002-05.

The Panthers took another early lead in the second frame of game two, 2-0, after a homerun from Kennard. Keene State took their first lead of the day in the third rallying for three runs. Plymouth responded with two runs in the bottom of the third inning on Jackson's two-run homerun giving PSU the lead. The Panthers added another two runs in the fifth inning on Hebert's two-run single up the middle.

Roberts recorded the win on the mound for PSU, allowing only three runs on ten hits, striking out three.

The Lady Panthers return to the diamond on Sunday when they host Rhode Island College at D&M Park, in the last regular game of the season.