Softball Closes Out Season in NCAA
Tourney
GLASSBORO, N.J. (5/10/08) - The Kean University
softball team closed out the 2008 season in the NCAA Division
III Softball Tournament with a 6-4 loss to Hunter College on
Saturday morning.
The Cougars (30-16) wrapped up one of its most successful
seasons in program history, winning 30 games for just the third
time in school history and advancing to the NCAA tournament for
just the fifth time in the 36-year history of the program.
Kean took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when senior
shortstop Johanna Hedler (South Plainfield, N.J.)
walked and would eventually score on a throwing error following a
single by junior left fielder Jesse Buchanan (Washington,
Twp., N.J.) (pictured right).
The Hawks answered in the bottom of the inning, capitalizing on
a pair of Cougar errors to score twice when junior Jen Damroth
(West Babylon, N.J.) had a two-out single to drive in a pair
of runs for the 2-1 lead.
In the third and fourth innings, the Cougars scored single runs
to regain the lead when junior Sara Steinman (Springfield,
N.J.) had an RBI single to drive in senior Katie
Hicks (Medford Lakes, N.J.) and Buchanan added an RBI
sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead.
Hunter took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning,
scoring three runs on four hits, as Damroth had an RBI single and
freshman Victoria Capece (Floral Park, N.Y.) drove in a
pair of runs with a single up the middle to lead 5-3.
After the Hawks tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning,
Kean attempted the final comeback when Steinman led off the top of
the seventh with a double and would score two batters later on a
RBI single by junior Nikki Castagno (Staten Island,
N.Y.) (pictured left).
With the tying runs on base with one out, Hedler delivered a
single down the left field line, however the Hawks executed a
perfect throw to home in throwing out a potential run to pull Kean
within one before the Hawks forced a lineout to centerfield to end
the game.
On the mound, senior right-hander Kristen Hennings
(Jackson, N.J.) scattered nine hits in five innings of
work, allowing just three earned runs while striking out
five.
Steinman's seventh-inning double was her 17th of the
season, breaking the single season mark of 16 she shared with Liana
LaVecchia (1994). Buchanan, Steinman, Castagno and sophomore
Allison Thibault (Garfield, N.J.) each had
multi-hit games for the Cougars recording two-hits apiece.
The game wrapped up the four-year careers of the team's five
seniors, Hedler, Hicks, Hennings, catcher Vicki Lanza
(Edison, N.J.) and third baseman Kara Schultz
(Clinton, N.J.).
Hedler finished the afternoon with two walks, two sac bunts and
a walk, as she closed out her career as the program's all-time run
leader (119), while ranking second in school history with 181
hits. Hicks scored once in the final game of her career,
while Schultz had a hit and finished her career with 85 RBI to rank
fourth in program history. Lanza finished tied with Hedler
for second all-time with 11 career homeruns, and Hennings struck
out 182 batters in 72 appearances in her career to rank fourth
all-time.
