The Lancaster Bible College softball team dropped two more home games on Tuesday, as the Chargers lost to Penn St. Harrisburg at Charger Field. The Nittany Lions took game one, 7-4, and then won game two, 6-1. The losses send Lancaster Bible to 2-8 overall and 2-8 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Nittany Lions improved to 8-7-1 overall and 8-6 in conference action.
 
Game 1
Penn St. Harrisburg 7, Lancaster Bible 4
How it Happened: Penn St. Harrisburg opened the scoring in the first inning, as Kaylee DeMatteo drove home two runs with a single. The Nittany Lions tacked on another run in the first, and then added one in the third as well, to take a 4-0 lead.
 
Lancaster Bible answered in their half of the fourth inning, as Nicole DeKok led off the inning with a single through the left side. She advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt by the Nittany Lions catcher, and Alyssa Paulson followed by reaching on an error. Adalyn Steiner then reached on a fielder's choice, and with the bases loaded, Kendra Brown grounded out, but scored DeKok. Hope Hodges drove in Paulson with a sacrifice bunt later in the inning, and Steiner scored on Penn St. Harrisburg's third error of the inning to make it 4-3.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg got a run back in the fifth inning, and then used three hits and two Lancaster Bible errors to add two more runs in the sixth inning. The Chargers' Hannah Lieb led off the seventh with a single, and after Bryanna Hoover singled later in the inning with one out, Phoebe Clemens singled home Lieb, and DeKok came to the plate with one out as the tying run. DeKok smashed a ball to Penn St. Harrisburg second baseman Sarah Coolbaugh, and she made the catch, flipped the ball to first baseman Steph Reider for the double play, and the Nittany Lions had a game one win.
 
Inside the Box Score: Clemens went 2-for-4 with an RBI in game one, while Hoover, DeKok, and Lieb had the other Lancaster Bible hits…DeKok pitched all seven innings, as she allowed just three earned runs and struck out one.
 
 
Game 2
Penn St. Harrisburg 6, Lancaster Bible 1
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible scored first in game two, as Sonja Nelson led off the first inning with a hit, stole second base, and then moved to third on an infield hit by Clemens. DeKok hit a sacrifice fly to score Nelson to make it 1-0, but the Chargers couldn't bring any more runs around.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the third, and then took advantage of three Lancaster Bible errors in the fourth inning to score two more runs and make it 3-1. Sam Weaver had an RBI hit in the inning, as the Lancaster Bible offense went cold in the middle frames of game two.
 
The Nittany Lions scored again in the fifth, and Delaney Nevius' RBI double in the sixth made it 6-1. The Chargers continued to struggle at the plate, and managed just one hit after the first inning.
 
Inside the Box Score: Nelson, Clemens, and Paulson had hits for the Chargers in game two, as Lancaster Bible's offense was stymied by Penn St. Harrisburg's top pitcher Mary Kate Penczkowski…Penczkowski allowed just one run and struck out eight, as she went the distance to improve to 5-3…DeKok scattered 11 hits in game two, and just one of the six runs allowed was earned.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 0-6 all-time against Penn St. Harrisburg…The Chargers dropped all four games to the Nittany Lions this season…Both Clemens and DeKok are batting .424 this season, and are tied for the team-lead with 14 hits…Despite her 2-8 record, DeKok's ERA is just 3.28 this season.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible is back in action on Saturday, as the Chargers head to Reading, Pa. to take on the NEAC's top team in Penn St. Berks…First pitch of game one is slated for 1 p.m.