SCRANTON, Pa.—The next 48 hours will seem like an eternity for the Keystone College softball team, especially after dropping a pair of heart-breaking games to Marywood University today in Colonial States Athletic Conference action at Pacer Field.
 
The Giants will need help now in order to qualify for the upcoming CSAC tournament after today's losses dropped their conference record to 11-11. 
 
Keystone is one game ahead of Cedar Crest in the standings, but the Falcons have two chances Monday to win one game and tie the Giants for the last playoff spot.  In that scenario, Cedar Crest advances because it swept Keystone earlier this year.
 
In the opener, the Giants built up a 5-0 lead before the Pacers tied it with a five-run rally in the fourth inning and added two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to pull out a 9-5 victory.  In the second game, Keystone scored four runs with two out in the seventh inning to erase a 4-3 deficit and take a 7-4 lead.  The Pacers, however, took advantage of two errors to score four runs—three unearned—to pull out an 8-7 victory in its final at-bat.
 
With today's wins, Marywood is now 18-16 overall and 13-7 in the CSAC.
 
Game 1 – Senior Ryleigh Fitch (Springville, Pa./Tunkhannock Area) finished with two hits and drove in three runs, including a two-run double in the first inning, and freshman Paige Mokychic (Beaumont, Pa./Tunkhannock Area) had two hits for Keystone.    Fitch also drove in a run in the second inning with a single to center field.
 
Marywood tied it up with a five-run rally in the fourth that included a two-run doubles by sophomore Kelsey Killeen and junior Hannah Docalovich.  The Pacers went ahead 7-5 in the fifth on a run-scoring double by junior pitcher Kirstie Alvarez and a sacrifice fly by freshman Jackie Burke.    Alvarez came through again in the clutch, delivering a two-run single in the seventh to help her own cause.  She struck out seven batters and picked up a complete game victory to improve to 12-6 on the year. 
 
Sophomore Kassadi Woods (Trumansburg, N.Y./Charles O. Dickerson) had a hit and scored twice and junior Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, Pa./Pennridge) and Samantha Monetti (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) and sophomores Mariah Loughney (Jermyn, Pa./Lakeland) and Shannon Lloyd (King of Prussia, Pa./Archbishop John Carroll) each had a hit for Keystone.
 
Game 2 – Mokychic and Hughes led the Giants with two hits apiece and Lloyd belted a triple that drove in two runs with two outs in the seventh inning to give Keystone its first lead, 5-4.  Mokychic followed with a run-scoring single and came around to score on a single by freshman Heaven Houck (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale).
 
Keystone, unfortunately, committed two costly errors in the bottom of the seventh inning that allowed the Pacers to score four runs—three unearned—to pull out the victory.  Alvarez drove in the game-winning run for Marywood with a single up the middle that scored senior Alexa Scala.  Alvarez's game-winning hit was her fifth of the game.  She also drove in two runs and scored once.
 
Scala and sophomore Lauryn Butler contributed three hits apiece and Killeen and Hailey Rapisardi added a pair as the Pacers finished with 19 for the game.

Keystone news & notes

• With four hits today, Mokychic raised her team-leading batting average to .386
• Lloyd's triple in the second game was her third of the season
• Keystone's 8-7 loss in the second game is the first time that the Giants have lost a game decided by one run; Giants are 4-1 in games decided by one run this year
• Cedar Crest ends its 2018 season on the road Monday at Cairn