April 21, 2007
Colgate 5, Lafayette 4
Lafayette 6, Colgate 3
HAMILTON, N.Y. (www.lafayette.edu) - Freshman Kasey Karr allowed just one earned run and Christina Giambrone and Jill Masterton both had two-out, two-run singles to spark the offense as Lafayette defeated Colgate 6-3 in the second game of a Patriot League softball doubleheader on Saturday.
Colgate (17-18, 9-1 PL) overcame an early 3-0 deficit to win the first game 5-4. The loss in game two is the Raiders' first setback in Patriot League action this season, as they swept four-game series at Holy Cross and Army and postponed their set with Bucknell earlier this month due to inclement weather.
Lafayette maintains a .500 record, both overall (17-17) and in league play (7-7) going into Sunday's doubleheader with the Raiders. The Leopards entered the weekend in sole possession of third place in the league, one game ahead of Army, which will play at Lafayette next weekend.
Karr went all seven innings for her 12th complete game and improves to 9-8 on the season. She allowed three runs in the second on three hits and two errors, then gave up just two hits (both in the fifth) in the final five innings.
The Leopards got the bats going in the fourth, as Karr and Megan Averbuch led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Sarah Price doubled to right center to score Karr from second. Allison LoBello lifted a sacrifice fly to right to plate Averbuch and pull the Leopards within one run, and Giambrone singled through the right side with two outs to give Lafayette a 4-3 lead.
Masterton extended the advantage to 6-3 in the fifth as she singled down the left field line, again with two outs, to score Price and Averbuch. Karr faced just seven batters over the final two frames and pitched around a leadoff walk in the seventh to earn her ninth win of the season.
In the opener, Lafayette got on the board quickly with two runs in the first on an RBI double by Giambrone (scoring Masterton) and a sacrifice fly by Karr which brought Giambrone around to score. The Leopards struck again in the third as Masterton led off the inning with her second hit of the day, and scored on Karr's RBI single.
Colgate scored two runs in the third off of Averbuch to pull within 3-2 before Lafayette pushed its lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth on a single by Robyn Matchett which allowed Masterton to score. Freshman Aimee Dassner relieved Averbuch in the bottom of the inning and gave three straight two-out hits which allowed the Raiders to tie the game at 4-4.
LaPorscha Albert broke the tie with a solo home run in the fifth, which was all the help starter Kelsey Nordstrom would need to improve to 10-5 on the year and 5-0 in league games. Nordstrom had allowed just one earned run and had three shutouts in four starts in Patriot League action before Saturday, when Lafayette scored four runs (three earned).
Lafayette will face Nordstrom and the Raiders again on Sunday in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Colgate's Eaton Street Field.
