MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – For the third straight game, the Kutztown University softball team was the first team to bring home a run, but unlike the other two games, KU was unable to hold onto the early lead, and dropped the final game of the SnowBird Freeze Out Tournament in Myrtle Beach, 12-1 to Felician University in five innings Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Bears (5-4 overall) finished 3-2 this weekend at the tournament, including winning both of their games Friday.
Two innings hurt KU and made it tough to pull out a victory. The Golden Falcons hit their way to six runs in the top of the second inning, answering the early KU run in the first, and then scored four in the fifth to end the game in five innings.
Kutztown had just two hits, both of them were by junior
Sara Keeny (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent). Keeny now has a seven-game hitting streak, and has a .452 batting average through nine games this season. She led off the game Sunday with a double, and then came home two batters later on an RBI groundout by
Jenna Lipowski (Nanticoke, Pa./Greater Nanticoke Area) to give KU a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. That would be the only run scored on the day for the Maroon and Gold.
After
Erin Fortney (Bedford, Nova Scotia/Bishop Macdonell (Rollins)) sat down the Golden Falcons lineup 1-2-3 in the top of the first, the Felician lineup got to the junior to the tune of six runs on five hits in the top of the second. The Golden Falcons tacked on two runs in the third on four hits, including a two-run homerun.
Keeny singled in the bottom half of the third, adding her second hit of the day. She now has 14 hits in 31 at-bats. The junior also came away with another stolen base, her fifth of the season in five attempts. Keeny is fifth all-time in program history with 70 stolen bases in her career.
Felician broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning, getting four runs on four hits.
Kutztown now has a three-week break until its next game. KU travels to Clermont, Fla. with games starting on Saturday, March 10.
