Junior Marissa Hardy tossed an ETSU record-setting sixth shutout of the season and Cheniece Cason scored the lone run of the contest on an error by Tiffany Alvarado in center as the Lady Bucs ended a four-game losing streak with their 1-0 win over Kennesaw State in game one on Saturday afternoon at Bailey Park. However, the Lady Owls used a two-run home run from Klair Wells in the bottom of the fifth in game two, and forced a split with a 4-2 victory.
With the split, the Lady Bucs improved to 25-24, 6-14 in the A-Sun, while Kennesaw State saw its mark go to 21-30, 7-13.
Hardy and Kennesaw State’s April Harper battled in a classic pitcher’s duel in game one, but Hardy found herself on the winning side as ETSU took advantage of an error in the seventh.
The junior right-hander, who broke five school records a year ago, etched her name into the books again by allowing five hits and striking out six hitters.
Hardy improved to 15-13 on the season, while Harper dropped to 10-9 despite allowing seven hits and the unearned run.
After missing out on scoring opportunities early in the game and not pushing a run across the dish in the last 20.2 innings played, ETSU capitalized on the error by Kennesaw State in center field and Cason used her speed to score from first to give the Lady Bucs the lead and eventual win, 1-0.
Kennesaw State didn’t go down without a fight, but with a runner on second and two outs, Hardy induced pinch hitter Brittany Moore into a game-ending line out at third.
Jett and Cason, ETSU’s number one and two hitters, were solid in game one, as they combined for five of the seven Lady Buccaneer hits. Jett finished 3-for-4 with the RBI and Cason went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
In the second game, after the Lady Bucs grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth on Kala Tipton’s first collegiate hit and RBI, Kennesaw State’s Klair Wells’ two-run home run over the wall in right-center in the fifth proved to be the game-winner, as the Lady Owls forced a split with the 4-2 come-from-behind victory.
The Lady Owls took the early 1-0 lead in the third on Hollie Huffman’s two-out RBI single up the middle – which scored Kelsey Kulk – who led off the inning with a double down the left field line.
ETSU responded as they scored two runs on three hits in the top of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead. The Lady Bucs placed runners on first and third with one out after Trisha Massenzo posted a double to right-center and moved to third on Hardy’s single to right-center.
Then, after Chelsea O’Connor entered as a pinch runner for Hardy and was caught stealing at second, ETSU took advantage of some command issues by Tarvin in the circle.
Tarvin issued back-to-back walks to Annie Martin and Katie Henderson, while Massenzo scored the Lady Bucs’ first run on a wild pitch in between the Henderson at-bat.
With Martin on third and two outs, Tipton waited for the best time to post her first collegiate hit and RBI when her liner to right scored Martin, which put ETSU up 2-1.
However, the Lady Bucs’ lead didn’t last long as Wells posted a two-run homer over the wall in right-center – giving Kennesaw State the 3-2 lead with two outs in the fifth.
The Lady Owls tacked on one more run on Jacki Warren’s solo shot in the sixth and Kennesaw State posted the split with the two-run victory.
ETSU resumes play on April 29 when the Lady Bucs travel over the mountain to take on Western Carolina. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 5 p.m. at the Catamount Softball Complex.

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