Panthers to play key LEC games to end reg. season

            MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury College needed extra innings in the first game and used a terrific pitching performance in the second game Monday afternoon to sweep a non-conference college softball doubleheader from Plymouth State University, 3-1 and 3-0, at the Middlebury Softball Field.

            Sophomore Jessica Poracky singled home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the opener to give the host Panthers a 3-2 win.  Freshman Elizabeth Morris and senior Geena Constantin combined to limit PSU to just one hit in the nightcap for a 3-0 victory.  Middlebury is now 24-4 overall, while PSU had a four-game winning streak stopped and fell to 15-14.

            PSU took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the first game, as freshman Denise Freitas (Sanford, Maine) and sophomore Jenn Bove (Medford, Mass.) delivered clutch two-out RBI singles through the left side.  Middlebury got one back in the fourth inning when a run came home on a double-play ball, and the home team tied the score at 2-2 in the sixth on senior Megan Margel's RBI single to left.

            Middlebury pulled out the win in the eighth inning with help from the tiebreaker rule.  With a runner at second base, senior Leslie Crawford moved her over to third with a single up the middle, and Poracky brought her home with a base hit to left. Morris recorded the win in relief for Middlebury, while freshman Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) suffered the loss for PSU.

            The visitors managed just one hit in the nightcap, a lead-off single in the third inning by sophomore Diana Bean (Danvers, Mass.).  Freshman Sam Hebert (Manchester, N.H./Memorial) also drew a one-out walk in the seventh inning but those were the only two Panthers to reach base safely.  Morris pitched the first four innings for Middlebury and Constantin finished up the final three.  Freshman Nora Galvin (Windham, N.H./Salem) was handed the loss for PSU.

            Middlebury scored all three runs after two were out in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Junior Alyson Downing singled home a run and sophomore Jessa Hoffman added a two-run single.

            PSU wraps up the regular season with four more twinbills the rest of the week.  The Panthers travel to rival Keene State on Wednesday, and play at home on Friday-Saturday-Sunday against Framingham State University, Western Connecticut State University and the University of Massachusetts Boston, respectively. 

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