Homers by Digman and Nedeau pace Panthers 

            CASTLETON, Vt. – Freshman Jackie Digman (Burlington, Mass.) homered in both games and senior Kortney Nedeau (Kennebunk, Maine) went deep to tie Plymouth State University's career home run record Tuesday afternoon, leading the Panthers to a non-conference softball doubleheader sweep versus Castleton State College, 9-1 and 8-5.

	Kortney Nedeau

            The Panther offense erupted for 17 runs on 24 hits in the victories.  PSU improves to 9-10 overall, while the Spartans fall to 9-13. Nedeau's blast, a solo shot in the seventh inning of the opener, was her fourth home run of the season and the 20th of her career, matching the PSU all-time record set by Adriene Harvey from 2000-03.

            Freshman pitcher Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) earned the victory for the Panthers in game one, tossing six innings of one-run ball on five hits, no walks and five strikeouts.  Classmate Nora Galvin (Windham, N.H.) earned the win (3-5) for PSU in game two, completing six-and-two-thirds innings and yielding six hits, three runs (all earned), one walk and a season-high 12 strikeouts.

            PSU used a five-run first inning to take an early lead in the opener and never looked back. Sophomore Jenn Bove (Medford, Mass.) doubled down the left field line to lead off and junior Allie Luisi (North Kingstown, R.I.) lined an RBI double to center. Digman, Sam Hebert (Manchester, N.H.) and White all collected RBI's in the frame with White capping the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left.

            Digman hit her first home run of the day down the left field line with two runners on base in the fourth inning, pushing Plymouth State's gap to 8-0. Castleton plated its only run of the game in the bottom half as Mercedes Maltbie (Warrensburg, N.Y.) singled home Shannon Jipner (Bristol, Vt.).  Nedeau finished off the scoring with her homer in the seventh.

            Plymouth State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second game as Hebert connected for a two-run home run to right. Nedeau made it 3-0 in the third inning with an RBI single through the left side.  The Panthers broke the game open with three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.  Bove and junior Heather Blase (Milford, N.H.) delivered RBI singles in the fourth-inning rally, and Digman's second home run of the day and third of the season highlighted the fifth inning.

            Castleton kept scratching away at the lead, but its rally fell short.  Maltbie delivered a two-run double to the left center field gap in the sixth inning to cut the margin to 8-4, and Flore made it 8-5 in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single up the middle.  But Galvin got the next two batters to end the game.

            Castleton returns to action Wednesday against Middlebury, while PSU will travel to Fitchburg State on Thursday. 

 (Courtesy of Castleton Sports Information) 

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