The Youngstown State softball team won its third and fourth straight games on Tuesday afternoon by sweeping a doubleheader at Arkansas Pine-Bluff. The scores at the Torii Hunter Softball Complex were 7-2 and 8-0.

The Penguins, who beat Providence and Saint Louis on Sunday, improved their record to 6-8 with the two wins over the Lady Lions. UAPB dropped to 2-16 with the two losses.

Sophie Howell tied her career high with 11 strikeouts in the opener, and Devan Ryan pitched a five-hit shutout in game two. Offensively, Sara Fessler went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs in game one, and Avrey Schumacher drove in three runs in game two.

Youngstown State will continue its Spring Break trip on Wednesday with a doubleheader at Memphis. The twinbill against the Tigers will start at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Game One Recap

In the doubleheader opener, Youngstown State scored in six different innings on its way to a 7-2 victory over the Lady Lions.

Howell tied her career high with 11 strikeouts and walked just one hitter in the seven-inning complete game. She surrendered nine hits and allowed one earned run to win her third straight decision.

Fessler went 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs from the top spot in the lineup, and Hailey Roach and Sydney Payne also had two hits apiece.

The Penguins scored twice in the opening frame as Fessler hit a leadoff double and scored on an RBI single by Jillian Jakse. Conchetta Rinaldi drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly that plated Hailey Niederkohr.

Another sacrifice fly, this one by Avrey Schumacher, in the second inning scored Payne to put the Penguins up 3-0. Elyssa Imler's sacrifice fly in the top of the third brought in pinch-runner Cassandra Carlson with the Penguins' fourth run.

Youngstown State added to their lead in the fifth without recording a hit as Fessler reached on an error, advanced to third on a pair of passed balls and scored on an RBI groundout by Schumacher. Fessler walked with the bases loaded in the fifth to make the score 6-0.

UAPB's two runs both came with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Zharia Richardson singled in a run with the bases loaded, and Jazlyn Gomez scored on an error to make the score 6-2. Howell escaped the sixth after two hits put runners on second and third with two outs, and Fessler singled home Imler with two outs in the top of the seventh to give the Penguins their five-run final margin.

Game Two Recap

In game two, the Penguins scored in four of the five innings and scored three runs in the fifth on their way to the shortened 8-0 shutout.

Schumacher went 1-for-3 with three RBIs, and Fessler and Niederkohr both scored two runs.

In the circle, Devan Ryan pitched the complete game shutout, allowing two hits and two walks while fanning three batters over five innings.

Two walks and a wild pitch preceded an RBI groundout by Schumacher in the top of the first, and the Penguins took a 2-0 lead when Niederkohr raced home on a wild pitch. The advantage remained two until Roach scored on a double steal with Rinaldi with two outs in the top of the third.

Schumacher hit a two-out triple to plate Fessler and Niederkohr in the fourth to give the Penguins a 5-0 lead, and YSU went up by eight with three runs in the fifth. Imler delivered the big hit with a two-run double to left that scored Taylor Truran and Ashlyn Bishop, and the eighth run came when Imler stole third and scored on Payne's sacrifice fly.