Keuka Blanks Middlebury
ITHACA, N.Y. – The sixth-seeded Keuka Storm (21-3-1) shut out the third-seeded Middlebury Panthers (29-7) 5-0 Thursday in an NCAA Division III Softball regional game played at Ithaca College. The Storm advance to face the winner of Thursday’s final game – between second-seeded Ithaca and seventh-seeded Centenary (N.J.) – Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Panthers will meet the loser of the Ithaca-Centenary game Friday at noon in an elimination game.
Keuka jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead and held the Panthers – who were playing the program’s first NCAA playoff game – scoreless, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out Middlebury threat in the bottom of the seventh.
First baseman Sarah Fredericks and catcher Sara James hit back-to-back home runs in the Storm’s three-run first inning.
Allison Richter scattered seven hits in improving to 11-2 with the complete-game shutout. She worked out of a jam in the seventh after the first three Panthers reached base. Left fielder Emily Burbridge, third baseman third baseman Emma Katz and catcher Alyson Dowling all singled but Richter induced three straight infield pop-ups to end the game.
James and Fredericks, who hit consecutive doubles in the seventh to account for Keuka’s final run, each had three of their team’s 10 hits. Fredericks added an RBI single in the third.
Left fielder Denise Bilbow had two hits for Keuka.
