HUNTINGDON, Pa.- Juniata softball hosted Penn State Harrisburg in a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon. The Lions took the first game 7-5 and won the second game 10-1 in five innings.
In Game One, Harrisburg scored twice in the first inning to lead 2-0. The Eagles answered in their portion of the frame as Allie Baney (State College, Pa./State College Area) led off with her first homerun of the season to put Juniata on the board.
The Eagles took the lead in the third inning. Baney started with a single up the middle and Chrisi Lerchen (Annville, Pa./Annville-Cleona) followed her with a single to right field. Abby Ebright's (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) sacrifice bunt moved Lerchen to second and Baney to third. Holly Bettinger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) then took a 2-1 pitch over the centerfield wall to move the Eagles ahead 4-2. That homerun now ties her for second place on the all-time homerun list with Rachel Nagy (2007-10).
The Lions responded with a three-run fourth inning to take back the lead and go ahead 5-4. The Eagles tied it up at 5-all in the bottom of the fifth on a Jennifer Carthew (New Paris, Pa./Chestnut Ridge) RBI single.
The score remained at 5-5 until the Harrisburg portion of the seventh inning when the Lions scored twice to lead 7-5. The Eagles tried to get a rally going in their part of the seventh. Ebright led off with a single to left center. After Bettinger flied out to right, Kerigan Ammerman (Alexandria, Pa./Juniata Valley) singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Carthew lined out to third base for the second out. Maddie Garrick (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) came up and singled to the shortstop to load the bases. Lindsey Kosicki (Patton, Pa./Cambria Heights) then took the first pitch to centerfield but flied out and the inning and game were over.
Bettinger finished 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and one run scored. Baney went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one run batted in.
The Lions jumped on the Eagles early in the second game with five runs scored in the first and four in the second. Kosicki scored the Eagles' only run on a throwing error by the Penn State Altoona catcher in the second inning. She and Baney had Juniata's only hits.
Carthew relieved starting pitcher Alyssa Fasolo (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area HS) and pitched 3.1 innings. She gave up three hits, one earned run, one walk, and struck out one batter.
The Eagles will travel to Washington D.C, this Saturday to play Catholic in their final Landmark doubleheader of the season. Game One begins at 1:00 p.m. with the second game following at 3:00 p.m.