Youngstown, Ohio – Sophomore Kennedy Dean hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs to lead the Youngstown State softball team to a 9-1 win over Niagara in game one of a doubleheader on Tuesday at the YSU Softball Field.
The Penguins dropped game two, 10-1, and moved to 27-13 on the year. The Purple Eagles improved to 16-17 on the season.
Dean, who went 2-for-3, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning, and blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the Penguins' five-run fourth inning.
Sophie Howell struck out seven, scattered just three hits and did not allow an earned run to pick up her 17th win of the season.
Senior Sara Fessler went 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs scored while senior Jillian Jakse and senior Elyssa Imler also had two hits each.
The Penguins scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead after one.
Fessler tripled to lead off the bottom of the third and scored on Lydia Wilkerson's sacrifice fly to right field. Two batters later, Dean sent a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for her sixth home run of the year and extended the Penguins' lead to 4-0.
In the fourth, Lauryn Swanson walked, Fessler was hit by a pitch and Wilkerson walked to load the bases. Jakse singled to plate Swanson just prior to Dean's grand slam, a towering blast to left-center field.
Niagara scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth.
In game two, the Penguins mustered just five hits in the loss.
Youngstown State hosts Northern Kentucky in a three-game Horizon League series, April 19-20. First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m. at the Covelli Sports Complex.
