LANGHORNE, Pa.—For once, Mother Nature didn't spoil the Keystone College softball team's plans.
 
And the Giants took full advantage of the sunshine today, sweeping a Colonial States Athletic Conference doubleheader from Cairn University, winning game 1, 2-0, and pulling out a 4-3 decision in eight innings in the nightcap
 
With today's wins, Keystone improves to 4-10 overall, but more importantly, is now 3-1 in the CSAC.  The losses dropped the Highlanders to 7-9 overall and 0-4 in league play.
 
Game 1 (Keystone 2, Cairn 0):  Junior pitcher Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge) struck out six batters and limited Cairn to just three hits in improving her record to 2-4 on the season.  The Giants managed only five hits themselves, but sophomore Mariah Loughney (Jermyn, Pa./Lakeland) drove in a run in the fourth inning with a single and Keystone added another run in the third on an error that allowed junior Samantha Monetti (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North), who hit a one-out single, stole second, and advanced to third on a single by Hughes, to score.  Sophomores Shannon Lloyd (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop John Carroll) and Gabrielle Truesdale (Tunkhannock, Pa./Lackawanna Trail) had Keystone's other two hits.
 
Losing pitcher and freshman Krista Earl had two of the Highlanders' three hits, including the game's only extra-base hit, a double.  She also struck out five batters on the mound.
 
Game 2 (Keystone 4, Cairn 3, 8 innings):   Senior Kaylee Hartman (Red Bank, N.J./Red Bank Regional) drove in Monetti with the winning run by hitting a double to center field in the top of the eighth inning to help the Giants complete the sweep.  Monetti hit a one-out double to left field to start the rally.  Hartman, senior Ryleigh Fitch (Springville, Pa./Tunkhannock Area), and Truesdale finished with two hits apiece for Keystone, which finished with 10 overall.  Sophomore pitcher Abby Aniska (Scott Township, Pa./Lakeland) came on in relief of starter Ashley Constable (Bangor, Pa./Bangor Area) and held the Highlanders scoreless over 2 and 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.  Aniska is now 2-3 on the season.
 
Keystone took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by sophomore Shannon Lloyd (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop John Carroll) and Fitch, and after Cairn added a run in the bottom half and took a 3-2 lead with two more runs in the sixth, the Giants tied it up in the seventh on a clutch, two-out single by Truesdale that scored freshman Paige Mokychic (Beaumont, Pa./Tunkhannock Area), who singled with one out.
 
Sophomore Haley Tinney and Earl combined for four of Cairn's seven hits and freshman McKenna Schindele drove in a run with a double during the two-run rally in the sixth.
 
Keystone will return to Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) action Monday, April 2, against Gwynedd Mercy University at Edmunds Field in La Plume.  The doubleheader begins at 1:00 p.m.
 
Keystone news & notes

• In addition to leading the pitching staff in appearances (6), innings pitched (32.1), strikeouts (17), and earned run average (4.18), Hughes leads the Giants in hitting (.342), too
• Keystone has now won three straight games after a 1-10 start
• Defensively, Giants have not committed an error in their last three games
• Aniska has not allowed an earned run in each of her last two pitching appearances and has allowed two-or-fewer earned runs in two other appearances
• Hughes had an 11-game hitting streak snapped in the second game today