The Youngstown State softball team extended its win streak to five games after sweeping a Horizon League doubleheader from Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday evening at the YSU Softball Field. The Penguins won the opener, 3-2, and game two, 8-0, in five innings.

With the sweep, the Penguins improve to 13-7 overall and 6-2 in the Horizon League while the Mastodons fall to 3-11 overall and 2-8 in league play.

In the opener, the Penguins trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the seventh and scored twice to snag the 3-2 victory.

Alex DeLeon's two-out single to right field scored pinch-runner Taylor Boeckmann with the game-winning run and capped a two-run frame. Grace Cea and Avrey Schumacher, who went 2-for-3, each singled to lead of the bottom of the seventh inning and Conchetta Rinaldi's sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. 

Pinch-runner Sarah Bader scored the game-tying run on Hailey Niederkohr's ground out to short stop.

The Mastodons scored a run in the top of the first and the top of the third to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half of the third, Schumacher led off with a double down the right field line, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on Maddi Lusk's sacrifice fly to cut the lead in half.

Lusk picked up her sixth win of the year and allowed just three hits with four strikeouts.

In the nightcap, Elle Buffenbarger fired a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts to earn her fifth win of the season. Buffenbarger also moved into second place on the YSU all-time strikeout list with 389.

The Penguins did all their damage in one inning scoring all eight runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Nikki Saibene, who went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs, had a double and a two-run home run in the second as the Penguins sent 11 batters to the plate. Saibene led off the frame with a double and scored on a fielding error. Milena Lacatena drove in a pair of runs with a pinch-hit single to left field, DeLeon drove in two with a triple to right-center field and Saibene's two-run homer capped the scoring.

DeLeon and Hailey Roach also had two hits in the nightcap.

Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne close out the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 27, at 1 p.m.