Highland Heights, Ky. -- Senior Elle Buffenbarger became the second player in school history to record 500 career strikeouts and led the Youngstown State softball team to an 11-2 win over Northern Kentucky in a doubleheader split on Friday afternoon. The Penguins lost game one, 5-2.

With the win, the Penguins improve to 34-12 overall and 27-7 in the Horizon League while the Norse move to 13-23 overall and 12-16 in the league.

Buffenbarger, who had five strikeouts, posted her 18th win of the year, which ranks third on the single-season list, and ranks third needs just eight more strikeouts to become the second player in school history to strikeout 200 in a season.

Yazmine Romero, Maddi Lusk, Alex DeLeon, Avrey Schumacher, and Nikki Saibene each had two hits, and Saibene drove in two runs. Jillian Jakse drove in three runs.

The Penguins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. After singles by Lusk and DeLeon, Jakse plated Lusk with the game's first run with a sacrifice fly and Schumacher's single to left scored DeLeon.

The Norse tied the game in the bottom of the second before Penguins used a six-run third inning to take an insurmountable 8-2 lead. Romero, Lusk and DeLeon each singled to lead off the inning and Romero scored on a wild pitch prior to DeLeon's hit. Jakse drove in two runs with a single to left field, Saibene plated Jakse with a single to center, and Grace Cea single down the right-field line drove in Saibene and Schumacher, who doubled.

Saibene led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run, her 11th dinger of the year, and fifth-year senior Elizabeth Birkbeck belted a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to enforce the mercy rule.

In the opener, Romero led the Penguins with a pair of hits and Saibene hit a two-run home run to account for the Penguins' runs.

The Penguins and Norse conclude the four-game series, Saturday, May 8. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.