Myrtle Beach, S.C. - Keystone College opened the 2016 season by splitting a pair of games on Monday at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic in South Carolina. After dropping an 18-7 decision to Eureka College, in game one, the Giants rebounded for a decisive, 20-2 victory over Southern Vermont College.

Keystone's 20 runs in the nightcap are the most in a game since March 27, 2010 when the Giants scored 24 and 23 runs in a pair of wins over conference foe Rosemont College.

Game 1 vs. Eureka

In Monday's opener against Eureka (4-0), Keystone jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the first at-bats of the game, but the Red Devils countered with four runs in the bottom of the first and had two more big innings to defeat the Giants 18-7 in five innings.

Lindsey Bucklaw (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale Area) hit a two-run double in the first inning before Emily Long (Shamokin, PA/Our Lady of Lourdes Regional) came home on an RBI groundout from Sarah Stacey (Shickshinny, PA/Lake-Lehman) to give Keystone the early, three-run edge, but Eureka got a three-run double followed by an RBI base hit the following inning to go in front, 4-3.

The Red Devils scored five runs on five hits in the home second before adding another run in the home third to make it a 10-3 game. Eureka put the game out of reach by putting up eight runs on seven hits and one Keystone error in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Despite the deficit, the Giants continued to battle and scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning before the Red Devils got the final out of the contest. Long hit a two-run single before Ryleigh Fitch (Springville, PA/Tunkhannock) belted a two-run double to left field to close out the scoring.

Savanna Tapper, Kerrigan Dura, and Madaline Kane had three hits apiece for Eureka with Dura, Lexi Litwiller, and Bridget Bankes driving in four runs apiece. Winning pitcher Rachel Patterson struck out four and allowed two hits in four innings in the circle for the Red Devils, who outhit the Giants by a 17-6 margin.

Long, Bucklaw, Fitch, Breelyn Johnson-Fite (Bogota, NJ/Bergen County Technical), Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge), and Nicole Shay (Thompson, PA/Susquehanna Community) accounted for Keystone's five hits in the game.

Hughes suffered the loss despite picking up a pair of strikeouts and going 3.1 innings in her collegiate debut. Emily Faulkner (Laceyville, PA/Wyalusing Valley) came on in relief and recorded the final two outs on the rubber.

Game 2 vs. Southern Vermont

In game two versus Southern Vermont (0-1), Keystone jumped out of the gates in a big way, scoring seven runs on five hits and two errors in the bottom of the first inning before tacking on six more runs on three hits and one error in the home second to take a 13-0 lead after just two innings of play.

The Giants pushed their lead to 15 runs in the third inning before Southern Vermont got on the board in the visitor's fourth, but Keystone plated five more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and closed out the mercy rule win in five innings despite another run by the Mountaineers in the top of the fifth.

Keystone, who held a 13-5 advantage in hits in the nightcap, got three hits from Antonette Scialpi (Hughestown, PA/Pittston Area) and two hits apiece from Long, Shay, and Kimberly Rivera (New York, NY/South Bronx Campus). Shay drove in a game-high four runs while Long had three RBIs and scored three runs. Rivera also scored a trio of runs in the win.

Faulkner picked up the win in her first collegiate start by allowing just two hits while striking out seven batters in three innings of work. Hughes pitched the final two innings and scattered three hits while fanning a pair of batters without yielding an earned run.

Amber Dow had two hits for Southern Vermont while Taylor Blake took the loss in the circle with two strikeouts.

Keystone will return to action with a pair of games on Tuesday in Myrtle Beach. The Giants will take on Spalding University at 9:30 before meeting Morrisville State College at 11:30 a.m.