Freshman Allie Lucenta had two of Westfield’s five hits in the opener vs. Keene State. (File photo by Mickey Curtis)
Keene State (11-8) has won six of its last seven games. Westfield State (4-17) has dropped seven of its last eight games.
The KSC Owls used the big inning to break open a scoreless first game that was stopped after five innings after they exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Senior Nicole Dupuis (Fitchburg, Mass.) and sophomore Samantha Nitso (Londonderry, N.H.) began the uprising with RBI doubles. Junior Ellissa Coburn (Claremont, N.H.) had an RBI single to right field and freshman Anna Glassman (East Granby, Conn.) brought two more runs home with a triple to center field. Senior Jessica Fiorenza (Wakefield, Mass.) kept the barrage going with a run-scoring single. Coming up with the bases loaded, freshman Morgan Fallon (Reading, Mass.) capped the inning with a grand slam home run.
“I was very nervous. I knew I had to produce a hit,” said Fallon, who has two home runs in as many days. “A grand slam is great, but I was hoping to get a nice single to get a few runs in. I hit a few (grand slams) in high school, but it’s a much better feeling in college.”
Sophomore Sarah Bracken (Windham, N.H.) Dupuis and Fiorenza each finished the game with two hits for Keene State.
Freshman Allie Lucenta (Natick, Mass.) had two of Westfield’s five hits.
Crisp was the recipient of the offensive support. She tossed a five inning five-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk to improve her record to 9-3. Junior Kelley Fluet (Worcester, Mass.) was the losing pitcher for Westfield.
Fallon tossed a complete game three-hitter with five strikeouts in Keene State’s 6-0 nightcap victory.
“My drop ball was working really well today, so I was using that a lot. They really didn’t like the low ball pitches, so I threw some of those as well,” said Fallon (1-1), who picked up her first career win. “We’ve been hitting really well lately, so I was happy we got a few runs in the end.”
Dupuis broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, her third bomb of the season.
KSC added five more runs in the fifth. The inning included RBI hits by freshman Christy McGraw (Hudson, Mass.) and junior Molly Dussault (Weare, N.H.) and a double steal that brought senior Meryl Ragaini (Seymour, Conn.) home.
Dussault finished the game with two of Keene State’s eight hits in the game.
Sophomore Caitlyn Kadlik (Chicopee, Mass.) took the loss for Westfield.
Both teams return to conference play on Saturday. Keene State hosts Rhode Island College and Westfield State travels to Salem State.
