GAME ONE BOX SCORE (XML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
GAME TWO BOX SCORE (XML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State softball team split its Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader with Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, April 9 at Bailey Park. The Owls dropped game one, 11-3, in five innings, before rebounding for a 4-1 win in game two.
The Eagles (27-14, 8-5 A-Sun) started off game one with a bang as Kirsten Bembnowski and Jessica Barnes each knocked two-run home runs in the second inning to give FGCU an early 4-0 lead.
Junior
Carly Van Auken (Largo, Fla./State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) responded in the bottom of the third with her first career home run, a shot to right center, to bring the Owls (25-14, 9-8 A-Sun) within 4-1.
FGCU added a pair of runs in the fourth frame as Barnes hit her second two-run homer of the game.
The Owls again rallied in the bottom of the inning as sophomore
Kaylee Williams (Kennesaw, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain HS) singled up the middle to score junior
Bianca Durant (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill HS), before Van Auken again delivered with a double to right center, scoring junior
Angie Dascoli (West Melbourne, Fla./State College of Florida) to make it 6-3 in the fourth.
The Eagles then closed the door on the KSU comeback, as FGCU plated five runs on three hits and two Owl errors in the fifth to earn the five-inning victory.
KSU posted seven hits, but committed two errors in the loss, while FGCU registered 10 hits in the game. Van Auken led the Owls with a 2-for-2 performance, plus two RBI and a run. Williams added a pair of hits and an RBI for Kennesaw State.
Junior
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) pitched four innings in only her third loss of the season, allowing six earned runs and striking out two.
Amanda Josie (8-2) earned the game one win for the Eagles, who got a 2-for-3 performance plus four RBI and three runs from Barnes.
Kennesaw State opened game two in a much more positive way as the Owls recorded a pair of runs in both the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead. Sophomore
Natalie Rhodes (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) started the scoring for the Owls as she posted a two-RBI single to left center to bring home Williams and Van Auken in the second.
Senior
Sharon Swanson (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) then smacked her eighth home run of the year to open the bottom of the third inning. KSU added a run later in the frame on a RBI single to centerfield from senior
Jensen Hackett (Tunnell Hill, Ga./Ringgold HS), plating Dascoli.
FGCU loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and scored a run on a Kelsey Carpenter sacrifice foul out to Rhodes, but did not get any closer as Henderson shut down the Eagles for her 12th complete game of the season.
Henderson (15-3) allowed only four hits and one earned run in the outing, while notching six strikeouts.
The Owls outhit the Eagles eight to four in game two, but committed one error in the game.
Swanson recorded a 2-for-3 effort with an RBI and a run to lead KSU offensively, with junior
Sara Sikes (Douglasville, Ga./Georgia) contributing a pair of hits.
Jaclyn Owen (7-6) dropped the decision for the Eagles in game two, as Tori Williams and Alexis Ross each tallied a pair of hits for the visitors.
Kennesaw State will go for the series win on Wednesday, April 10 with a single game at Bailey Park. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. (ET).
Keep up with Owls softball this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlsSoftball and @
KSUOwlNation or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
