WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Juniata softball team dropped two games on the road at Catholic today, 1-0 and 4-1, Monday afternoon.

Game one was a pitcher's duel, as each team only managed three hits. Cate Baran (Tyrone, Pa. / Tyrone Area HS) went the distance for JC, going 6.0 innings while allowing three hits, three walks to go with five strikeouts. 

The Cardinals scored the lone run of the game in the third. The first batter struck out but got to first on a passed ball. The next batter bunted her over. Baran struck out the next batter but walked the following one. The runners each stole a base to put runners at second and third before another walk loaded the bases. She hit the batter with the bases loaded to push the Cardinal run across. The freshman pitcher from Tyrone, Pa. induced the next batter to pop out to second to escape any more damage. 

Juniata had a shot in the seventh, with Maya McLeod (San Diego, Calif. / La Jolla Country Day School) leading off with a double to right-center. McLeod got to third on Caleigh Love's (Yardley, Pa. / Pennsbury HS) ground out to second, but the Eagles couldn't get the tying run home. 

In the second game, Juniata got on the board first as McLeod wound up scoring from third as Love reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. The Cardinals answered in the bottom half of the inning with a sac fly to right to knot things at one.  

Catholic scored three in the third, on a single to right and a two-run double to left-center to make it 4-1, and that was it for scoring the rest of the game, with Catherine Miller (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon Area) allowing one hit in the final four innings. She pitched 3.2 innings in relief, allowing two hits, a walk, and two strikeouts. 

JC couldn't muster a comeback as they only managed two hits in the final four innings, one each between Baran and Reagan Goldsmith (Middletown, Del. / Middletown).  

Juniata will host Elizabethtown Saturday, with the first game beginning at one.