<rleton had plenty of offense against Dakota County Technical College, but a series of defensive miscues caused the Knights to fall 8-7 in their season opener. The Knights racked up 11 hits and six doubles. Michael Johnson ’10, Kelsey Parsons ’13, Dana Mackey ’12 and Chelsea Yost ’13 each had two hits and one double.
The Knights got the scoring started in the top of the first when Parsons led off with a double and was driven in two batters later by Johnson. Later in the inning, Johnson stole second and scored on a double by Yost.
Two errors in the bottom of the second inning allowed Dakota County to even the score at 2-2, but the Knights would reclaim the lead in the top of the fourth. A two-out rally from the bottom of the order gave the Knights a 3-2 lead.
The lead would not last as Dakota County scored another pair of unearned runs to retake the lead and knock out Carleton’s starting pitcher Karen Robinson ’12. She finished with five strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work and gave up no earned runs.
After another pair of errors left the Knights down three runs in the top of the sixth, Carleton unleashed a furious rally to even the score. Sarah Marks ’12 started the inning off with a single and was brought home by a Mackey double. Parsons, in turn, knocked in Mackey with a single. Robinson followed Parsons with a double, but a pair of groundouts to second base left the score knotted at 7-7 after the top of the sixth.
Dakota County would not be denied and scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth on the strength of a two-out rally.
The Knights return to action against University of Minnesota-Morris on Friday at 10:30 a.m. in Rosemount, Minnesota.
-Courtesy of Sports Information