The Youngstown State softball team used a combination of solid pitching and explosive hitting en route to a doubleheader sweep over Wright State, 4-1, and 11-3, on Tuesday afternoon at the YSU Softball Field.

With the sweep the Penguins improve to 19-24 overall and 7-7 in the Horizon League while the Raiders fall to 14-23 overall and 9-5 in the league.

In game one, freshman Maddi Lusk fired a five-hitter with four strikeouts to pick up her 11th win of the year and also hit a three-run home run to help her own cause in the 4-1 win.

Senior Sarah Dowd had two hits for the Penguins in the opener.

The Raiders jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second and the Penguins knotted the game with an unearned run in the bottom half of the frame. Freshman Tatum Christy led off the inning with a double to right-center field, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out error by the Raiders.

In the bottom of the third, Lusk blasted her second home run of the season, a three-run shot to left field, to seal the Penguins' victory.

In game two, the Penguins brought out the lumber and banged out 14 hits to complement Lusk's second great outing of the day.

Five players posted two hits each led by senior Brittney Moffatt's 2-for-3 performance at the plate with two RBIs. Junior Cali Mikovich, senior Maria Lacatena, Lusk and junior Stevie Taylor each collected a pair of hits.

After giving up two runs in the top of the first, the Penguins sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half of the frame and scored five runs to take a 5-2 lead.

Moffatt and Lacatena each posted run-scoring singles to tie the game at 2-2 and Dowd's double to right-center field gave the Penguins a 3-2 advantage. Lusk's RBI-fielder's choice and Christy's sacrifice fly pushed the Penguins edge to 5-2.

Lusk's had a run-scoring single in the bottom of the second and Mikovich and Moffatt added RBI-singles in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 7-2.

Wright State added a run in the top of the fifth before Christy belted a three-run home run, her second of the season, in the bottom of the sixth to enforce the run-rule and give the Penguins the 11-3 win.

The Penguins and Raiders close out the series with a single game, Wednesday, at 1 p.m.