Playing on campus for the first time in nearly 15 years, the Lancaster Bible softball team earned an important early-season doubleheader split with conference powerhouse Penn St. Berks as the Chargers took game one, 3-1 behind another strong pitching performance from Kelsey Collins, but dropped game two, 10-2 in five innings. The games were the first North Eastern Athletic Conference games for each team, thus leaving each team with a 1-1 record in NEAC play. The split gives Lancaster Bible a 3-7 overall record, while Penn St. Berks is now 2-6.

Lancaster Bible is back in action on Thursday at 3 p.m. when they host two more NEAC games, this time against St. Elizabeth. Below is a quick recap of each game from Wednesday's doubleheader.

Lancaster Bible 3, Penn St. Berks 1
Both teams got superb pitching performances, but Lancaster Bible took advantage of four Penn St. Berks errors and won, 3-1. Freshman Julia D'Arrigo reached on one of the four errors in the third inning and Ali Morton, who had singled earlier in the inning, came around to score to give the Chargers a 1-0 advantage. Sophomore Kelsey Collins protected the lead with another vintage pitching outing as she went the distance and allowed just three hits, while striking out nine. 

Collins received some insurance in the fifth when the Chargers scored a run on a sacrifice fly from Courtney Koser. As Richelle Kane tug up to go from second to third, the Nittany Lions fumbled the throw from the outfield which allowed Kane to slide home under the tag and give Lancaster Bible a 3-0 lead. Penn St. Berks threatened in the top of the seventh and made it 3-1 on a wild pitch, but Collins slammed the door as she struck out two of the three batters in the seventh.

Collins also had two of the four Lancaster Bible hits as she crushed two doubles, while Kristen Hartline and Morton had the other hits for the Chargers. 

Penn St. Berks 10, Lancaster Bible 2 -- 5 innings
The Nittany Lions rebounded in game two as they exploded for six runs in the second inning and four more in the fourth inning to win, 10-2. After having just three hits in game one, Penn St. Berks had 13 in game two as they drove the ball off of Lancaster Bible pitchers Emily Coffman and D'Arrigo. 

Koser hit a two-run home run to dead center in the third inning that proved to be the only offense of the game for the Chargers. It was Koser's second home run of the season and proved to be one of just five hits for Lancaster Bible in game two. D'Arrigo went 2-for-2 in game two, while Morton and Kane had the other hits for the Chargers.

Ashley Malek was 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Nittany Lions. One her Malek's three hits was her first home run of the season.