FORT MYERS, Fla. - The RU softball team returned to the diamond on Monday with a pair of games against Kenyon College and Nazareth College. Unfortunately the Regents came up short in both, falling 15-5 to Kenyon and 8-3 to Nazareth.
Rockford once again started strong in its first game of the day against Kenyon as the Regents held a 3-1 lead through 3 innings. Lisa Blakeley-Snyder (Winnebago, Ill.) got the offense started as she took the first pitch of the game and laced it right back up the middle for a leadoff single. After a strikeout and a Kenyon error, the Regents would load the bases with just one out when Mercedes Boykin (Belvidere, Ill.) smacked a single into left field. Senior Brittany Bura (Chicago, Ill.) then drove in the game's first run and reached base thanks to another Kenyon error. A couple of batters later, Lynn Blakeley-Snyder (Winnebago, Ill.) would make it a 2-0 lead with an RBI walk. Kenyon was however, able to answer in the second with a run of its own before the Regents took a 3-1 lead with a run in the third. Caitlin Eiben (Racine, Ill.) began the inning with a leadoff single to give Rockford a runner on base with no outs. Junior outfielder Stefaney Kenworthy (Veedersburg, Ind.) followed with an RBI triple to center as Rockford again stretched its lead to two runs.
Unfortunately, Rockford was unable to hold onto the lead for much longer as the Regents allowed four runs in the fourth giving Kenyon its first lead of the day at 5-3. However, the ladies did not surrender as they were able to answer with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Shannon LeGath (Sturtevant, Wis.) and Lisa Blakeley-Snyder reached base safely thanks to a walk a one-out single to give Rockford yet another scoring opportunity. The Regents would again take advantage as Alex Storey (Dexter, Mich.) smashed an RBI single down the left field line scoring LeGath and cutting the Kenyon lead down to 5-4.
However, from that point forward the game belonged to the Lords as Kenyon scored multiple runs in each of the next three innings. The Lords took control of the game with 5 runs in the fifth, 2 in the sixth and 3 in the seventh en route to a 15-5 victory.
Game two against Nazareth followed as similar pattern as the previous one as Rockford once again held a 3-1 lead midway through. The Regents scored in the first inning for the third time in the first four games of the season. This time it was Mercedes Boykin who came through with a clutch two-out RBI single to score Alex Storey and give her team a 1-0 lead after one inning of play. The game remained 1-0 until the third inning when Nazareth scored its first run of the afternoon to tie the game at 1-1. Rockford then retook the lead one inning later with a pair of runs. Stefaney Kenworthy drove in the first run of the inning with a one-out RBI single into left field to put Rockford back on top 2-1. The Regents added one additional run when Makayla Long (Wilmington, Ill.) knocked in her first run of the season to give Rockford its largest lead of the game at 3-1.
Unfortunately just like in the earlier game, the Regents were ultimately done in by a big fifth inning. Nazareth scored six runs on six hits and took advantage of one Rockford error giving the Golden Flyers a 7-3 lead. The Golden Flyers would add one additional run in the top of the seventh as Rockford never really threatened for the remainder of the game and fell by a final score of 8-3.
Despite the loses Rockford still had some excellent performances at the plate. Junior Stefaney Kenworthy led the Regents offensive going 3-for-6 on the day with a triple, 2 runs batted in, 2 runs scored and was hit by pitch. Mercedes Boykin went 2-for-6 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Shannon LeGath did a nice job at the bottom of the order going 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored.
The RU softball team returns to the diamond on Tuesday, March 8 with a pair of games in Naples, Florida. Rockford will open with Olivet College at 9:00 AM EST prior to its game against Albion College at 1:00 PM EST.
