Castleton, VT-The Castleton State College softball team dropped a pair of non-conference games in the Spartans' home-opener 2-0 in eight innings and 5-3 to Plymouth State University.

Game One: Dead-locked at 0-0 entering the top of the eighth inning, Panther junior Leanne Barry started the inning at second base on the tiebreaker rule, and with one out, sophomore Kay LaBrie cracked a two-run home run to steal the win.

In a classic pitchers' duel, Castleton's Angie Carpenter strike out seven over eight strong innings of work. Not to be out-done Plymouth State received eight innings of shut-out ball from Kat Roland, striking out nine. Both allowed six hits, none bigger than Barry's.

Allison Lamay had two hits to pace the Spartans, while Laura Rogers added a double.

Game Two: Castleton was once again bitten by the long-ball as the Panthers twice went yard in the 5-3 defeat. Tosha Whittemore doubled and drove in a run, while Rachel Hunt was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Hilary Bemis doubled and scored and had a stolen base for the 3-9 Spartans.

Castleton returns to the road on a Wednesday with a non-conference double header at Middlebury.