The Youngstown State softball team earned a pair of victories on Sunday at Lipscomb's Purple & Gold Challenge, beating Providence 5-2 and Saint Louis 9-8.

The Penguins, who dropped a pair of one-run games on Saturday, finished their trip in Nashville with a 2-2 mark at the two-day tournament. Youngstown State is 4-8 overall this season.

Avrey Schumacher had three RBIs, and Sophie Howell picked up six strong innings in the win over the Friars. In game two, YSU got a walkoff 9-8 victory over Saint Louis in nine innings. Elyssa Imler had two hits and drove in two runs, and Conchetta Rinaldi plated Jillian Jakse with the winning run on a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth.

Youngstown State will continue its spring break trip with doubleheaders at Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Memphis on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Game One Recap

In the morning affair against Providence, Youngstown State scored three runs in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and win 5-2.

Schumacher was 2-for-3 in addition to her three RBIs, and Sara Fessler had a hit, scored a run and recorded an RBI. Sydney Payne scored twice.

The Friars took a 1-0 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, and the score remained 1-0 until the Penguins tallied a pair of runs in the fifth.

A pair of errors on the infield to start the fifth allowed Imler and Payne to reach, and Imler scored on a wild pitch to tie the score. Two batters later, Payne scored on Schumacher's sacrifice fly to give YSU a 2-1 advantage.

Providence tied the score on a bunt single by Kaelyn Loncharich in the bottom of the sixth, but the Penguins answered with three runs in the top of the seventh. Payne kickstarted the offense with a one-out single to left, and she scored the go-ahead run when Fessler hit an RBI double three pitches later. After a pitching change, Haley Niederkohr walked, and Schumacher followed with a two-run single to right that brought in Fessler and Niederkohr.

Two singles in the bottom of the seventh allowed the Friars to bring the tying run to the plate, but Howell retired the final two batters on a strikeout and ground out to end the game.

Howell came on in relief and pitched the final six innings to earn the win. She allowed one run on four hits and four walks while striking out eight batters in six innings. Tori Grifone started for Providence and got one out in the seventh before handing the ball to the bullpen. Grifone was charged with her fourth loss as four of the five runs went on her record.

Game Two Recap

In game two of the day against Saint Louis, Youngstown State trailed 5-1 and 6-2 before mounting a comeback. The Penguins scored five runs in the fifth to take a 7-6 lead, and YSU fought off the Billikens after they scored single tallies in the seventh and eighth innings.

Youngstown State's batters drew 11 walks in the game, and YSU scored nine runs on seven hits. Imler had two of those hits, and Jakse, Rinaldi and Imler each drove in a pair of runs.

Jocelyn Abbott hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the second to give SLU a 3-0 lead, and the Penguins got on the board in the third when Niederkohr plated Payne with a sacrifice fly.

The Billikens scored two more runs with two outs in the fourth inning when Chloe Rhine's two-run single made the score 5-1. Imler's two-out single in the bottom of the fourth brought in pinch-runner Ellie Hardman to bring the Penguins to within 5-2.

SLU got the run back with a two-out RBI double by Ashley Marietta in the top of the fifth, but the Penguins responded with five runs on three hits in the bottom half of the inning. Fessler led off the inning with a two-strike single, and Niederkohr and Schumacher walked to load the bases with nobody out. Jakse followed with a single on a 1-2 pitch that plated Fessler and Niederkohr, and a sacrifice bunt by Hailey Roach put runners on second and third with one out. Rinaldi followed by singling to left to plate Schumacher, and back-to-back walks by Megan Turner and Imler allowed YSU to tie the score at 6-6. Payne then brought in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Rinaldi to race home.

YSU reliever Devan Ryan loaded the bases with one out in the sixth but induced back-to-back pop outs back to the circle to preserve the lead. She allowed an infield single and threw a wild pitch to start the seventh before handing the ball to Howell, and the reliever retired the next two Billikens before a two-out error allowed the tying run to score.

Both teams scored in the eighth inning, and YSU's run came on a sacrifice fly to left by Schumacher that plated Fessler. In the ninth, Jakse started on second with the international tiebreaker rule and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Roach. Rinaldi then brought Jakse the winning 60 feet with a sacrifice fly to center.

Bree Kohler started in the circle for Youngstown State and was charged with five runs in three innings of work. Ryan surrendered two runs, one of which was earned, in three innings of relief, and Howell got the final nine outs. The junior did not allow an earned run and recorded four punchouts in her three innings.

Youngstown State scored seven runs off of Saint Louis starter Kaili Hanner in 4.1 innings, and the final two runs were against Taylor Hochman.