PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Columbia softball team opened the series against Penn with two wins in Saturday doubleheader. The Lions will now look for the series sweep in the series finale on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Columbia improves to 11-15 overall with a 6-2 mark in Ivy League games with the wins Saturday. The Lions have now won four games in a row and seven of their last eight games since conference action started.
"It's always great to get the series win on the first day, but we also understand how tight the Ivy race is," Columbia Head Softball Coach
Jennifer Teague said. "Every game counts so we're looking at making some adjustments going into Sunday. Having 22 hits on the day and some good pitching with good defense is always going to be a pretty good day at the ballpark."
Columbia held the lead for the first half of the first game after a
Cami Neal ground-rule RBI double scored the first run in the top of the first inning.
Eleni Katsivalis doubled through the left side in the third to add another run.
Penn chipped away at the lead and the Lions and Quaker entered the seventh inning tied, 2-2.
Caroline Palys hit a solo shot over the right field wall to put Columbia in front before the Quakers responded to tie the game again. The Lions pulled away with a three-spot in the eighth inning that allowed Columbia to win game one, 6-3.
Charlotte Laider (1-1) earned her first win of the season as she came in and fired 2.0 innings.
Raquel Reyes earned the start and worked 6.0 inning, giving up three runs on five hits.
The Quakers jumped out to the lead in the second game with a run in the bottom of the second inning.
Neal responded with a three-run homer in the top of the third that scored Palys and
Jaden Hill to put the Lions in front for good. Neal hit her second home run of the day in the fifth inning to increase the lead.
Penn attempted a rally in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runs, but the Lions quickly responded with two runs in the top of the seventh to seal the 7-3 win to complete the doubleheader sweep.
Sarah Mikami (5-5) tossed a complete game to earn her fifth victory of the season. Mikami allowed three runs on seven hits. She tallied six strikeouts in the outing.
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