COLLEGE SOFTBALL: ATHENS GRAD BENNETT BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD, NAMED EMPIRE 8 'PITCHER OF THE WEEK' (2024-04-29)

Valley Sports Report
ALFRED, N.Y. — Athens grad Megan Bennett, a senior on the Alfred University softball team, made the most of “Senior Weeken,” racking up a pair of wins and setting the school-record for strikeouts in a game. It was part of a five-day stretch in which she went 4-1, and was named the Empire-8 “Pitcher of the Week.”

For the week, Bennett was 5-1 with a 0.93 ERA. She pitched 30 innings, and allowed 21 hits, while registering 47 strikeouts, and just two walks.

Bennett, who has recorded wins in 12 of her last 13 appearances, started the week with a three-hitter Tuesday in a 4-0 win over RIT in the first game of a doubleheader. She fanned 11, walked none, and threw just 92 pitches in seven innings.

In the nightcap, Bennett allowed one hit and stuck out the side in the top of the seventh to earn the win in Alfred’s walk-off 7-6 win.

On Thursday, Bennett was tagged with her first loss since April 6 in a 5-4 loss to Rochester. She allowed five runs — four earned — on 11 hits, while striking out seven and walking two in seven innings.

On Saturday, Bennett pitched four shutout innings in Alfred’s 14-0 five-inning win over Houghton College. She allowed six hits, while striking out three and walking none to earn the win.

On Sunday, Bennett earned a win with four innings of shutout relief in Alfred’s 8-0 five-inning win over Elmira College in the first game of a doubleheader. She allowed one hit, while striking out six, and walking none. She was also 2-for-2 at the plate with one run scored, and two RBI.

The nightcap was all Bennett. She tossed a 2-hit shutout with a school-record 17 strikeouts and no walks in the Saxons’ 5-0 win over Elmira. It was Bennett’s sixth shutout of the season, and the 10th of her career.

For the season, Bennett is 18-4 with a 1.86 ERA. She has a career-high 136 strikeouts, and just 13 walks in a career-high 124 1/3 innings pitches. She has yielded 117 hits.

Alfred, now 24-12, wraps up the regular season at home with doubleheaders against Buffalo State Thursday, and Fredonia next Monday.

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IN PHOTO: Megan Bennett.