Highland Heights, Ky. -- Freshman Jillian Jakse belted a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Youngstown State softball team to a 4-2 win over Northern Kentucky in game two of a doubleheader on Saturday. The Penguins lost the first game, 2-1.

The Penguins improve to 35-13 overall and 28-8 in the Horizon League while the Norse finish the season with an overall record of 14-24 and 13-17 in league play.

Jakse, who went 3-for-4 and drove in all four YSU runs, clobbered her fifth home run of the year that plated Yazmine Romero and Alex DeLeon to give the Penguins a two-run advantage.  

The Norse took a 2-1 lead on Ava Lawson's two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning.

YSU's Elle Buffenbarger fired 5.1 innings of no-hit ball before the Norse posted three hits in the sixth. Buffenbarger struck out seven to record her 19th win of the season.

Jakse's run-scoring single in the top of the fifth put the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

In the opener, freshman Sophie Howell was impressive striking out six and scattering just six hits in 7.2 innings pitched, but was the hard-luck loser. The Penguins only mustered three hits in the loss.

Youngstown State hosts the 2021 Horizon League Softball Championship, May 13-15, at the YSU Softball Field. The top-seeded Penguins will play at Noon against the No. 4 seed Robert Morris.