Rock Hill, S.C. — Youngstown State's softball team dropped a pair of games on Friday to start its weekend at the Winthrop Garnet & Gold Tournament on Friday.

YSU dropped its opener to Brown 13-2, and St. John's topped the Penguins 9-1 later in the afternoon at Eagle Field.

Lydia Wilkerson hit a two-run homer for Youngstown State in the first contest against the Bears, and Ayla Ray had base hits in both contests.

Against Brown, Wilkerson's blast with Kami Diaz on base tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third. The Bears answered with three runs in the top of the fourth to reclaim the lead, and they added a run in the sixth and seven in the seventh.

Autumn Boyd pitched the first three innings against Brown and allowed four runs, two of which were earned, while striking out two. The final nine runs went on Autumn Behlke's record.

In game two against the Red Storm, Ray reached on an infield single with two outs and scored after an error and two wild pitches. That ended up being the Penguins' only run of the game, and St. John's scored nine straight runs to win 9-1 in six innings.

The Red Storm tied the score with an unearned run in the bottom of the first, and another unearned run in the third gave them a 2-1 lead. St. John's then hit three straight two-out doubles in a four-run fourth, and London Jarrard hit a walk-off three-run homer in the sixth.

Maci Boggess went the distance for the Penguins in the circle in game two. Ana Serafinko struck out 17 batters in a complete game for St. John's.

Youngstown State will play two more games on Saturday at the tournament, taking on Le Moyne at 12:30 p.m.  and Winthrop at 5:30 p.m.