The Middlebury softball team split a pair of games on a windy Sunday afternoon, topping Keene State (10-10) 7-4 before falling in the second game, 7-6. The Panthers (14-8) saw their six-game winning streak come to an end and will return to action on Wednesday with a pair of games at Skidmore.

In game one, Hye-Jin Kim went 2-3 with a double, four RBI and two runs scored to pace the Panthers. Alexa Lesenskyj moved to 3-2 on the year with three innings of one-hit relief to earn the win.

A bases-loaded walk in the first and an RBI single through the left side by Heather Pelletier gave Keene State a 2-0 lead in the third. Middlebury came back in the bottom of the frame, scoring four runs on five hits.

Alex Scibetta singled to short to start the inning before the next two batters went down on strikes. Christina Bicks singled down the right field line, while Emily Kraytenberg loaded the bases with an infield single. Kim followed with a shot off the top of the fence in left center into a stiff wind, plating all three runs with her double. Sarah Freyre drove in the final run of the inning, singling to center to plate Kim.

Kayla Votto singled to right with one out in the fourth for the Owls, before she stole second. Stephanie Long followed with a double to right center to drive in Votto. She later scored on a wild pitch, to tie the game at 4-4.

Middlebury scored another three runs in the fifth, as a double to right center by Kimber Sable started the rally. Bicks was hit by a pitch and later moved to second on a ground out as Sable moved to third. Sable crossed the plate after an error, while Bicks scored on an RBI single down the left field line from Freyre. Kim scored on another error later in the inning, as Middlebury held a 7-4 after five innings of play.

Neither team would threaten from that point, as the Panthers took game on 7-4. Freyre aided Kim's effort with a 2-3 game, driving in a pair of runs.

Mariah Crisp suffered the loss for Keene (5-5), while Long finished 2-4 with two runs scored and Votto was 2-3.          

In the nightcap, the Owls sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five times via seven well-placed hits in the second. Molly Dussault had a run-scoring single to center, while Votto laid down a run-scoring bunt right on the third-base line. Long punched an RBI hit up the middle, and Aliza Guerrero squibbed an RBI base-hit in between short and third that Kim dove and stopped. Keene State tallied its fifth run of the inning via a passed ball.

The score remained 5-0 in favor of the visitors until the home half of the third. The Panthers scored four times, including an RBI triple off the bat of Sable to right center. With the bases loaded, Carlyn Vachow roped a double down the left field line that rolled all the way to the fence and emptied the bases.

Middlebury took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when the hosts tacked on a pair of runs. Kraytenberg smacked a 2-1 pitch into the right center gap scoring Siobhan O'Sullivan and Emily Smith, who both had base hits earlier in the inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Owls took the lead off Middlebury reliever Neve Stearns. A run-scoring single to right from Rachel Boynton scored Sara Bracken, who led off with a walk. With the score tied at 6-6 and two outs, Christy McGraw took a Stearns' pitch on the outer half of the plate and placed it into right scoring Guerrero.

Crisp, who pitched the final four innings of the nightcap for the win (6-5), worked around a one-out double by Freyre for the win.

Boynton and Katie Newell were each 2-4 with a run scored in game two for Keene State. Sable went 2-2 with two walks, while Bicks and O'Sullivan were both 2-3.

Kate Bauman logged the first 1.2 innings giving up five runs on seven hits, while Kat Maehr came on in relief of Bauman. Maehr went 3.2 innings giving up just one hit and striking out four. Stearns (3-3) took the loss in the circle for the Panthers going the final 1.2 innings with two runs, one earned and a pair of strikeouts.