FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Fairfield's Lauryn Rhinehart limited Columbia's potent offense to just a run on four hits, as the Lions were defeated, 4-1, Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action at Alumni Softball Field.

Columbia (17-16) scored its run in the first inning when sophomore Maria Pagane led off the game with a triple and was later driven in on a groundout by classmate Max Ortega. Pagane, Ortega, Alexandra Yule and Jordan Townsend all finished the game 1-for-3 at the plate.

Fairfield (19-17) took the lead on a pair of RBI singles in the second and Rhinehart (5-6) took them the rest of the way. She helped herself out with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the third and went on to strike out five Lions, walking one. The Stags tacked on their fourth run of the game courtesy of Mikayla Rubin's RBI single in the sixth. Rubin and Kaitlin Hoffman each had two-hit games.

Madison Canby (6-7) started and pitched all six innings for the Lions, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and three walks. The junior struck out three Fairfield batters and did well to strand nine more on base to keep the Lions in the game.

After Canby retired the side in order in the first, Fairfield loaded the bases with one out in the second for Drew Westford.  The Stags' catcher singled to left to tie the game before Tahlia Brown punched another RBI singled to left center, putting the home side in front, 2-1.

Fairfield scored its third run in the third. A leadoff double to center off the bat of Rubin followed by a Lacey Olaff single put runners at the corners with nobody out. Rhinehart then flew out to center but it was deep enough for Rubin to tag up and score. The Stags loaded the bases on a two-out walk but Canby got Brown to fly out to keep it a two-run game.

Columbia's best chance to cut into the lead came in the fourth. Yule lined a one-out double to the left-center field gap to put a runner in scoring position. Rhinehart got out of the inning by striking out Nishihira.

A pinch-hit single started the Fairfield sixth and led to the final run of the game. The Lions caught Robicheau in a rundown to get the second out but the next batter, Rubin, singled to center to drive home Marshall from second. Columbia put one runner on in the seventh before Rhinehart finished off the complete game.

Columbia (9-3 Ivy) returns to New York before heading back to the state of Connecticut this weekend for a three-game series against Yale (8-7 Ivy). First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader is at 12:30 p.m. All three games will be streaming live on ESPN+.