Youngstown, Ohio – Youngstown State scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to post a 9-1 victory and secure a doubleheader split against Niagara on Tuesday afternoon at the Covelli Sports Complex. The Penguins lost game one, 10-2.
The Penguins improve to 20-14 overall while Niagara moves to 1-23 on the season.
Owning a 3-1 lead, the Penguins sent 10 batters to the plate for a six-run fifth that enforces the mercy run. Leila Staszak led off the inning with a single and scored on Lydia Wilerson's triple down the right-field line. Following a walk to Emma Gilkerson, Tai Turner reached on a fielding error but plated Wilkerson to extend the YSU lead to 5-1.
Kennedy Dean and Selah Moyer delivered run-scoring singles that drove in Gilkerson and Turner, and Staszak ripped a bases-loaded, two-run double to left-center field to end the game.
The Purple Eagles took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first inning, but Dean knotted the game with a solo home run, her seventh round-tripper this season, on the first pitch of the bottom of the second inning. Turner gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead on a towering two-run shot, her fourth home run, to left field in the bottom of the third inning.
Sophomore pitcher Isabella O'Brien struck out six in a complete-game three-hit victory, her fourth of the season.
Dean went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs while Staszak was 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and Turner drove in three runs.
In the opener, Wilkerson and Moyer each went 2-for-3 while Dean and Moyer drove in the Penguins' runs.
Youngstown State hosts St. Bonaventure in a doubleheader, Wednesday, April 8. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at the Covelli Sports Complex.
