ITHACA, N.Y. -- The fifth-seeded King's Lady Monarchs (23-17) held on to beat the eighth-seeded Keuka Storm (23-10), winning 12-9 in Friday's first game of the NCAA Division III Softball Regional hosted by Ithaca College. The Lady Monarchs will face either Ithaca or Lebanon Valley Saturday at noon in an elimination game; the Storm were eliminated from the regional tournament with the loss.
The Lady Monarchs scored four runs before an out was recorded in the game and led 10-0 in the top of the sixth before the Storm scored six in the bottom of the sixth and three more in the seventh. Keuka brought the tying run to the plate in the last inning before King's got the last two outs.
Senior Lindsey Hoerner fell a triple short of the cycle, driving in six runs and earning the win with six innings of five-hit, eight-strikeout pitching. She hit a three-run home run in the first, singled in two runs in the fourth and doubled home an insurance run in the seventh.
Senior first baseman Katie Fry and senior catcher Christie Parfitt both added three hits (including a double) for King's and three other Lady Monarchs contributed multiple hits. King's finished with 16 hits, including five for extra bases.
Hoerner held the Storm to one hit over the first five innings -- facing just one batter over the minimum -- before Keuka exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman right fielder Brittany Smyder and freshman pinch-hitter Alyssa Wood hit one-out singles and three
straight walks brought home a pair of runs. Freshman second baseman
Terin Brown (
pictured) doubled down the right field line to clear the bases, then scored on a double that landed just inside the left field line off the bat of sophomore Domino Usiak.
Three straight singles by
Smyder, junior left fielder
Denise Bilbow and
Wood to open the seventh inning scored Keuka's seventh run. After
Bilbow scored on a force-out, a walk to junior first baseman
Sarah Fredericks loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate.
Brown's long fly ball to right field was caught for a sacrifice fly and the Lady Monarchs retired the final batter for the win.
Senior shortstop
Meaghan Galvin led off the game with the first of four doubles by King's, then scored on an outfield error. Sophomore left fielder
Kaitlin Siegfried (who scored three runs) singled and Hoerner followed with her fifth home run of the season.
Three more runs put the Lady Monarchs up 7-0 in the fourth. Hoerner singled in freshman
Annie Erndl and junior third baseman
Gretchen Tholen, who'd both singled, and Parfitt's double brought
Hoerner home.
A two-run single by
Fry highlighted a three-run sixth for King's before
Hoerner and
Parfitt added run-scoring hits in the seventh.
Box score
