Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Green Bay, Wis. -- The Youngstown State softball team collected a combined 24 hits en route to a doubleheader sweep over Horizon League foe Green Bay on Saturday afternoon. The Penguins defeated the Phoenix, 7-0, and 10-2 in six innings.
The Penguins, who have won five straight league games, improve to 22-24 overall and 10-7 in the Horizon League while Green Bay falls to 2-26 overall and 1-13 in the league.
In the first game, juniors Hannah Lucas and Cali Mikovich each went 2-for-3 with a triple while junior Stevie Taylor and senior Brittney Moffatt each collected a pair of hits.
Freshman pitcher Maddi Lusk struck out four and scattered nine hits in the complete-game shutout to pick up her 13th win of the season.
Senior Sarah Dowd's two-run single in the top of the first inning gave the Penguins a 2-0 cushion.
Mikovich led off the top of the third with a triple to right-center field and scored on senior Maria Lacatena's sacrifice fly to put YSU up 3-0.
The Penguins used a four-run fifth inning to put the game out of reach. After two infield singles by Taylor and Lucas put runners on the corners, Mikovich plated Taylor with a sacrifice fly to center field. Moffatt singled home Lucas and scored on a two-out error, and pinch-runner runner Alexa Schmidt scored on Lusk's double to right-center.
In the nightcap, Taylor led the Penguins' 13-hit barrage going 3-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in. Moffatt had two hits and two RBIs while Luski went 2-for-4 with a run batted in.
Senior Caitlyn Minney struck out five and allowed just five hits to pick up her fifth win.
Freshman Elizabeth Birkbeck pinch-hit single up the middle plated Alexandria Gibson and Taylor to put the Penguins up 2-0 in the fourth.
After Green Bay got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth, the Penguins scored seven runs on seven hits to take a 9-1 lead. Lusk had a run-scoring single while freshman Tatum Christy's two-run double put the Penguins up 7-1. Taylor and Mikovich also added RBI-singles in the inning.
The Phoenix scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the YSU lead to 9-2, but Lucas' bases-loaded ground out scored pinch-runner Alexis Roach with the Penguins' 10th run.
The Penguins and Phoenix close out the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.
