Langhorne, Pa. - Keystone College's bats were red-hot on a cold afternoon on Tuesday as the Giants scored 53 runs in a Colonial States Athletic Conference softball doubleheader sweep. Keystone opened the day with a 19-0 win over the Highlanders before posting a 34-2 victory in the second game as the Giants scored a pair of five-inning, run-rule wins to improve to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
Game 1 Keystone took a 2-0 lead in their first at-bats of Tuesday's opener before scoring six runs on five hits in the top of the third inning to open up an 8-0 advantage. The Giants added a run in the visitor's fourth before exploding four ten runs on seven hits in the fifth inning to pull away with the big win.
Kaylee Hartman (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional) went 3-4 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored while
Katie Thompson (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth Area),
Sarah Stacey (Shickshinny, PA/Lake-Lehman),
Lindsey Bucklaw (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale Area), and
Ryleigh Fitch (Springville, PA/Tunkhannock) collected two hits apiece. Stacey led all players with four RBIs in the opener while Hartman, Bucklaw, Fitch, and
Shannon Dermont (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) drove in a pair of runs each.
Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) was outstanding in the circle for the Giants, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five batters in the complete game shutout.
Rachel Clark suffered the loss for Cairn (0-16, 0-6 CSAC) in a complete game effort from the Highlanders, who got hits from Katelynn Reiss and Kaitlin Gibbs in the loss.
Game 2 Keystone continued their offensive onslaught in game two as Dermont got the scoring started with a grand slam home run in the first inning to give Keystone a 4-0 lead. The Giants added 10 runs the following inning on seven hits highlighted by a grand slam from Bucklaw as the visitors built a 14-0 advantage.
The visitors tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the third before Cairn scored their first run of in the home half of the frame. Keystone added six runs on four hits in the fourth inning and 12 runs on eight hits and five errors the following inning before the Highlanders closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning with a run on a wild pitch.
Samantha Monetti (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and
Breelyn Johnson-Fite (Bogota, NJ/Bergen County Technical) had four hits apiece in the game two win for Keystone while Thompson, Bucklaw, Dermont, and Hartman had three hits apiece. Stacey and Bucklaw drove in five runs each, Thompson, Dermont, and Johnson-Fite had four RBIs apiece, and Johnson-Fite and Hartman scored five runs each in the win which tied a school record for runs scored in a game. Hartman set a school record with eight runs scored in the doubleheader.
Emily Faulkner (Laceyville, PA/Wyalusing Valley) turned in an impressive start in the circle, picking up her third win of the season after allowing just one earned run on three hits and one walk while fanning five batters in the complete game.
Clark suffered the loss for the Highlanders despite turning in her second complete game in the circle for the hosts.
Keystone, who held a 25-3 advantage in hits in the nightcap, was also aided by 10 Cairn errors in the lopsided victory.
Up Next Keystone will be right back in action on Wednesday with another CSAC twinbill at Immaculata University starting at 3:00 p.m.
