Game One Box
Game Two Box
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Sophomore Caitlin Ketcham (North Clarendon, Vt.) drilled a walk-off two-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning to propel the Skidmore College softball team to a 9-7 win and a sweep of Castleton State in its home opener on Wednesday.
The Thoroughbreds posted a 4-0 shutout in game one, improving their record to 7-5. Castleton falls to 0-4.
In game one, Ketcham put Skidmore on the board as she knocked her first homer of the day to center to break a 0-0 tie in the second inning.
The Thoroughbreds added three more runs in the fifth when freshman Julie D'Aleo (Westwood, Mass.) hit a two-run single to score Lauren Dinsdale (Harrington Park, N.J.) and Shelly Anderson (Alfred, N.Y.) to go up 3-0. Pinch runner Lauren Tobias (New City, N.Y.) scored the fourth Skidmore run when the throw got away from Castleton catcher Bridget Dusha.
Ketcham finished 2-2 in the first game with two runs scored and one RBI. Freshman pitcher Sam Crose (Assonet, Mass.) continued to be solid on the mound as she went the distance, giving up no earned runs or walks while firing seven strikeouts in the win.
In the second game, Skidmore took a 7-1 lead into the seventh inning before Castleton ignited for six runs to tie the score, 7-7. With bases loaded, junior Alicia Zraunig hit a double to left-center to lessen the lead to four, 7-3. Another run crossed the plate off of an RBI single by Spartan freshman Mallory Mollison, which set the stage for rookie Shannon Jipner, who crushed a three-run round-tripper to tie it up.
The Thoroughbreds answered back in the bottom half of the inning, with veteran Dinsdale leading off the stanza with a single. With Dinsdale on first, Ketcham came up and drilled her second shot of the day to end the game with a Thoroughbred Victory, 9-7.
Crose threw the final out of the seventh for the Thoroughbreds, picking up her second win of the day on the mound with 10 strikeouts and one earned run in 6.1 innings.
Dinsdale, Ketcham, and Charlotte Evans (Pawling, N.Y.) each had two hits for the Thoroughbreds in game two.
Skidmore will travel to Utica College in its next doubleheader on March 29.
