The Youngstown State softball team was held to four hits over 14 innings on Wednesday as the Penguins dropped 1-0 and 4-2 decisions in the 2022 Horizon League Softball Championship at the Covelli Sports Complex.

The third-seeded Penguins have been eliminated from the tournament and finished the 2022 campaign with a 32-24 record. Youngstown State dropped the opener 1-0 to No. 6 Northern Kentucky, which advanced in the winners bracket, and it fell 4-2 in an elimination game to No. 4 Robert Morris. The Colonials will play another elimination contest Thursday evening.

Youngstown State's only two runs of the day came on a two-run homer by Megan Turner in the bottom of the third of game two.

Game One vs. Northern Kentucky

Northern Kentucky junior Lauryn Hicks pitched a one-hit gem to lift the Norse past the Youngstown State softball team 1-0 in the opening round of the 2022 Horizon League Softball Championship.

Hicks retired the final 17 Penguin hitters to outduel YSU's Sophie Howell, who allowed just five hits.

Hailey Roach had the Penguins' lone hit against Hicks, a leadoff single in the bottom of the second inning. Avrey Schumacher drew a one-out walk two batters later, but Hicks struck out Bree Kohler and got Grace Cea to fly out to end the inning. The right-hander did not allow a YSU baserunner over the final five innings, and she got plenty of help from the seven teammates behind her on hit-saving defensive plays.

In the top of the fifth, Olivia Pastin hit a leadoff double for NKU's second hit off Howell. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third, and Trinity Robertson delivered the only RBI of the game with a single up the middle. The Norse stranded runners at the corners in the fifth, and they also left a runner at third in the sixth.

Howell surrendered five hits and walked just one Norse batter, and she struck out four while throwing 132 pitches. Hicks allowed just the two baserunners in the second inning on a hit and a walk, and she struck out seven. She threw just 86 pitches, 57 of which were strikes.

Game Two vs. Robert Morris

In the elimination game against Robert Morris, Turner's two-run homer in the third gave Youngstown State a 2-0 lead. The Colonials, though, scored the final four runs of the game to advance in the tournament.

YSU starter Elle Buffenbarger retired the side in order in the first, and she induced a 5-3 double play to end the second with two runners on. The Penguin pitcher then got a 1-2-3 inning in the third, and Turner's homer gave Buffenbarger a two-run cushion.

After RMU's Taylor Rhinehart got two quick outs to start the bottom of the third, Yazmine Romero hit a soft single to center on the first pitch of her at bat. Turner then got down 0-2 in the count before hitting a two-run blast over the right-field wall to put YSU ahead 2-0.

Robert Morris cut the deficit in half with a run in the top of the fourth as the first three Colonials reached. Avery Winchell was hit by a pitch, Erika Bell walked, and Rhinehart followed with an RBI single that plated Winchell from second. With two runners on and the threat still active, Buffenbarger induced consecutive foul outs and got a ground out to preserve the lead.

The Colonials then tied the score with a run in the top of the sixth, but Buffenbarger worked out of a jam again. Bell walked again, and Rhinehart doubled to right center to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Meadow Sacadura sent Bell the final 60 feet with a sacrifice fly to left, but Buffenbarger retired the final two batters with a diving catch by Nikki Saibene at third and an eight-pitch strikeout of Jess Matheny.

In the seventh, Anna Resnik led off with a soft single to center, and Alaina York reached on an error on her sacrifice bunt attempt. Another sacrifice advanced the runners, and Winchell delivered the game-winning hit on a single to center. Romero threw out York at the plate to save a run, but Bell added an insurance run with a double to right that plated Winchell.

Buffenbarger allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on six hits and four walks in a complete game. Rhinehart pitched the first five innings for the Colonials and yielded two runs on three hits while striking out four. Madison DeVault tossed the final two frames and allowed one baserunner on a walk to record her fourth victory of the season.

Each of Youngstown State's top three batters in the lineup had hits. Turner had the two-run homer, Conchetta Rinaldi doubled, and Romero singled.