The Lancaster Bible College softball team finally played a pair of home contests at Charger Field this season, but ran into one of the top teams in the North Eastern Athletic Conference, as the Chargers dropped two games to Penn St. Berks. The Nittany Lions took game one, 5-1, and then won game two, 10-2, as the Chargers fell to 2-6 overall and in conference play, while Penn St. Berks is now 9-1 both overall and in conference action.
 
Game 1
Penn St. Berks 5, Lancaster Bible 1
How it Happened: Both starting pitchers dominated the first three innings, as Penn St. Berks managed the only hit through the first three frames. Lancaster Bible starter Nicole DeKok pitched well throughout the entire game, but came out firing with three strikeouts in the first three innings.
 
The Nittany Lions got on the board in the fourth inning, as Briana Smith doubled to left field, and drove in the game's first run. Penn St. Berks extended the lead to 5-0 in the top of the fifth, as the Nittany Lions used six hits and a Lancaster Bible error to score four more times.
 
Lancaster Bible got its first hit of game one in the bottom of the fifth, as Alyssa Paulson singled, but was stranded there a batter later. After DeKok worked out of the sixth and seventh innings, the Chargers scored their lone run in their final at-bat, as Paulson singled to right field to score Bryanna Hoover who had led off the inning with a single.
 
Inside the Box Score: Paulson went 2-for-3 with an RBI in game one, while Hoover and Hannah Lieb had the other hits for Lancaster Bible in game one…DeKok scattered nine hits over seven innings, and allowed just three earned runs and struck out three.
 
Game 2
Penn St. Berks 10, Lancaster Bible 2
How it Happened: Penn St. Berks jumped on the Chargers in game two, as the Nittany Lions scored three times in the first inning thanks to two hits and two Lancaster Bible errors. Lancaster Bible had two hits in its half of the first inning, but couldn't bring runs around and Penn St. Berks scored twice more in the second inning to make it 5-0.
 
Nicole DeKok led the second inning off with a single, and eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Adalyn Steiner. The Chargers scored again in the third inning, as DeKok doubled with two outs to score Phoebe Clemens who had singled earlier in the inning.
 
Lancaster Bible's offense sputtered after the third inning however, and Penn St. Berks scored once in the fourth and two more times in the sixth to take an 8-2 lead. The Nittany Lions tacked on two more runs in the seventh, and despite putting two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, the Chargers couldn't bring any runs around.
 
Inside the Box Score: Nicole DeKok went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while her sister Amanda DeKok was 1-for-3…Sonja Nelson, Steiner, Hoover, Clemens, and Lieb also had hits for the Chargers.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 3-27 all-time against Penn St. Berks…Lancaster Bible's last home games prior to Sunday were April 24, 2019…Nicole DeKok continues to lead the Chargers in hitting with a .481 batting average, while Clemens is also batting over .400  at .407.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible is home once again on Tuesday, as the Chargers host Penn St. Harrisburg at 3 p.m…The games can be seen on the Chargers Sports Network.