KEENE, N.H.   – The Keene State College softball team swept a Little East Conference doubleheader against the University of Southern Maine at Owl Athletic Complex on Saturday, rolling to a 12-1 win in the five-inning opener and hanging on for a 8-5 victory in the nightcap.

With the two wins, the Owls improve to 18-7-1 (5-3 LEC) while the Huskies fall to 3-29 (1-7 LEC).

Keene State jumped out a 5-0 first inning lead and never looked back on the way to taking the opener.  Seniors Katie Bradford (Lebanon, N.H.) and Laura Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.), junior Nicole Dupuis (Fitchburg, Mass) and sophomore Ellissa Coburn (Claremont, N.H.) each had RBI singles in the inning.

Dupuis brought in another run with a double in the second inning. Bradford cracked her first home run of the season, a two-run line drive over the fence in left to give the Owls a 8-0 lead in the third.  "This year, I have no expectations about hitting and I've been doing pretty well," said Bradford.  "I didn't think I was capable of hitting a home run, but I'm happy about it." 

Coburn and senior Haley Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.) delivered two-run doubles for KSC in the fourth inning.

Coburn went 2-2 with a career high four RBIs and Bradford finished with two hits and three RBIs to lead the Owls' 14 hit attack.  Laura Chandler and Dupuis also had two hits in the game. 

Senior Sara Stocklinski (Newton, N.J.) went the first four innings to pick–up the win (8-3).  She gave up one run one three hits with four strikeouts and four walks.  Freshman Julia Nolan (Litchfield, N.H.) tossed a perfect fifth inning with one strikeout.

Junior Alexandra Perdomo (Portland Maine) took the loss in the circle for the Huskies.

Keene State led 7-0 after two innings and held off the Huskies for the second game win.  The Owls went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first on RBI singles from Stocklinski and sophomore Molly Dussault (Weare, N.H.).

The Owls tacked on five more runs in the second. Stocklinski brought one run in with a single, Laura Chandler doubled to right center to bring in two more runs and freshman Samantha Nitso (Londonderry, N.H.) got another run in on infield out.  Junior Kayla Joyce (Bridgewater, Mass.) capped the inning with a solo home run to right center, her third of the season.

Southern Maine made things interesting by scoring one run in the fourth and four more in the fifth to cut the Owls' lead to 7-5.  Freshman Emily Trembley (Old Town, Maine) and sophomore Kayla Kennedy (Windham, Maine) had RBI singles for the Huskies in the fourth.

Keene State scored an insurance run in the sixth on Nitso's RBI single through the right side of the infield.

Keene State's lead-off hitter Haley Chandler had a big day at the plate in the second game, going 4-4 (the fourth four-hit game of her career) with three runs scored while also swiping three bases.  She had four steals in the doubleheader.  "We jumped on them early and I'm proud of that because we've been waiting around a lot lately," said Chandler.  "We were able to steal some bases and get people into scoring position and that was a big factor in the game."

Keene State was successful in all seven of its stolen base attempts in the twinbill.

Stocklinski, Laura Chandler, Nitso and Joyce each had two hits as the Owls banged out 14 more hits in the nightcap.

Sophomore Annie Mitchell (Gorham, Maine) and Trembley each had two hits for the Huskies, which finish the game with six hits.

       Senior Emily Albin (Bethel, Conn.) pitched into the seventh inning to get the win for the Owls (7-3).  She went 6.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits while fanning four and walking two batters.  Senior Samantha Pratt (Bristol, Conn.) got the final two outs to notch her fifth save.  With a runner on first, junior Jessica Fiorenza (Wakefield, Mass.) made a diving catch on a hard line drive by Kennedy for the final out of the game.  "I saw it come off the bat and knew it was in the gap, so I put everything I had into it and got the last out," said Fiorenza. "Going forward, we're going to keep working as hard as we can and hopefully come away with some more wins.

         Junior Stefanie Stockwell (Buxton, Maine), now 2-9, was the losing pitcher for USM.

         Keene State is at Rhode Island College on Sunday (12:00 p.m.).  USM returns to action on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.).  The Huskies were originally schedule to play Western Connecticut on Sunday but those games have been postponed due to inclement weather.

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