Game 1 box score |
Game 2 box score |
Photo gallery
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Kara Chambers had six hits and scored seven runs to help the Kennesaw State University softball team take both ends of Saturday's Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader at the Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.
Kennesaw State took Game 1 by a 17-7 score before completing the sweep with a 9-1 win in Game 2. With the losses, NKU falls to 2-16 overall and 0-5 in A-Sun play. The teams will conclude their three-game conference series on Sunday. First pitch has been pushed up to 11 a.m. to account for the storm system due to hit the area that afternoon.
Dee Dee Davis led the Norse offense, going 4-for-7 on the day with a home run and four RBIs, while
KC Straley went 4-for-6 and scored four runs.
The Norse jumped out early offensively in the opener, as Davis answered an RBI groundout by Sara Sikes in the top of the first inning with a two-run home run deep over the left-field wall of her own to make it a 2-1 Norse lead. The shot was Davis' fifth of the year.
Angie Dascoli hit a two-run single up the middle in the top half of the third inning to give the Owls (14-11, 4-1 A-Sun) back the advantage, but
Dana Jarboe was there to tie it back up with a laser shot home run to right-centerfield, her first of the season. Davis came through with an RBI single to score Straley, who doubled to follow the Jarboe shot.
Kennesaw State took over from there, plating a run on a Megan Veringa groundout in the fifth before coming back with four runs in the sixth, making it an 8-4 Owls lead. Back-to-back singles by
Dani Devlin and
Nicolette Hayes followed by a two-out walk to
Allie Conner set the stage for a Norse answer. A misplay on
Mandi McQueen's bases-loaded ground ball brought two more runs home for the Norse and cut the advantage in half.
The Owls ran away with it in the seventh, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring nine runs. Straley doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh to reach the final score.
Amanda Henderson (12-4) went the distance for Kennesaw State, giving up five earned runs on nine hits and striking out 13 Norse batters in the win. The loss fell to
Alex Caudill (0-8), who gave up six runs on 11 hits and struck out three in 5.1 innings.
All nine KSU batters picked up at least one of the Owls' 19 hits in the game. Natalie Rhodes posted a 4-for-5 effort with five RBI, coming a home run short of the cycle, while Dascoli went 3-for-5 with three RBI and Sikes had a 2-for-5 game with four RBI.
The offense was all Kennesaw in Game 2, as the Owls got three runs in the first on a rally that started with a Chambers triple on a 1-0 pitch. Kennesaw State batters connected with each of the next five pitches
Paige McQueen threw, resulting in a sacrifice fly and three base hits to give the Owls a 3-0 start to the game.
Davis again came through with the offense, driving in NKU's only run of the game on an inside-out single to score Straley, who singled herself one batter earlier.
The Owls scored in each inning of the game, responding with six unanswered runs to end the game in five innings.
Chambers and Taylor Denton each had three hits for the Owls, who posted 13 hits on the game. On the NKU side, Jarboe and Hayes extended their hitting streaks to six and four games, respectively, and
Natalie Papi added a 1-for-2 effort.
Paige Matthews (1-4) got the win in the circle, scattering six hits and striking out six Norse batters.
Paige McQueen fell to 1-5 on the year, taking the loss in the start.
Kelley Benhase struck out a pair in 2.1 innings of relief.
