Stellar Pitching Gives Flashes Pair of Victories on Final Day of USD Tournament

Sunday, February 15

San Diego, Calif.

12:00 p.m.

Kent State University

3-2

Montana

1-9

Kent State

Montana

Photo by: David Dermer

Stellar Pitching Gives Flashes Pair of Victories on Final Day of USD Tournament

2/15/2015 6:29:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Kent State's pitching staff allowed just one run to lead the Golden Flashes to a pair of wins on the final day of competition at the University of San Diego Tournament on Sunday. The Flashes opened the day with a 6-1 win over Montana and then defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 1-0, to conclude the opening weekend of the 2015 season with a 4-2 record.

Kent State outhit its opponents, 15-8. Senior Kim Kirkpatrick and sophomore Ronnie Ladines had three hits each to lead six Flashes with multiple hits on the day. Junior Alyssa Frankenfield, sophomore Janel Hayes and senior Emma Johnson combined to allow just one run and had nine strikeouts to just two walks.

"I was happy we were able to finish the trip with two wins," said head coach Karen Linder. "All three pitchers did a great job today. Paige McCrary did a fantastic job all weekend both offensively and defensively behind the plate. Kim Kirkpatrick got us going offensively in first game and came through big in the second game. And our defense played well in both games."

Game 1: Kent State 6, Montana 1
Kent State scored in its first at-bat when Kim Kirkpatrick hit the team's first home run of the season. Montana came right back in the bottom of the first and used three singles to tie the game and put runners on the corners with just one out. Janel Hayes remained poised and got a groundout to short and strikeout to escape without any further damage.

Hayes then helped her own cause when she was hit by a pitch to leadoff the top of the second. A single by Ronnie Ladines and a wild pitch moved two Flashes into scoring position. Paige McCrary singled through the right side to score both runners and give the Flashes the lead for good. Junior Michele Duffy added a two-run single of her own, this time through the left side, alter in the inning to give the Flashes a 5-1 lead.

Kent State scored its final run on a sac fly by Hayes in the seventh.

Hayes (1-0) was sensational the rest of the way, as Montana did not have a hit over the final six innings. She recorded three strikeouts in the first complete game of her career.

Game 2: Kent State 1, Cal State Bakersfield 0
A clutch two-out single by Kim Kirkpatrick in the bottom of the fifth scored Emily Dobbin for the only run of the game. Lauren Kesterson was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on the play.

The Flashes received a terrific outing from Alyssa Frankenfield, who made her first start of the season. Frankenfield (1-0) threw five scoreless innings and allowed four hits to go with three strikeouts. Emma Johnson threw two scoreless innings in relief to record her first save of the season. Johnson struck out three batters and allowed just one hit.

Kent State will return to action with four games at the EKU Invitational next weekend (Feb. 21-22).