The Lancaster Bible College softball team did everything it could in both games of a doubleheader with Penn St. Harrisburg on Friday, but in each game, the Nittany Lions had one extra gear, and earned two one-run victories. The Chargers dropped game one, 7-6 after battling back from a 6-0 deficit, and then lost game two, 5-4 in eight innings. Lancaster Bible is now 2-2 overall and in North Eastern Athletic Conference play this season, while Penn St. Harrisburg improved to 2-5-1 overall and 2-4 in NEAC action.
 
Game 1
Penn St. Harrisburg 7, Lancaster Bible 6
How it Happened: Penn St. Harrisburg scored in each of the first three innings of the opening game, and took a 6-0 in the third when Madelyn Pyle singled home Sierra Dixon. The Chargers didn't go away however, and got on the board in the fourth, as freshman Phoebe Clemens hit a drive to right-center field and raced around the bases, nearly clipping the heels of Bryanna Hoover who had led off the inning with a single. Clemens kept running, and when the Penn St. Harrisburg second baseman bobbled the relay through, Clemens scored easily and cut the Chargers' deficit to 6-2.
 
Clemens was at it again in the fifth inning, as she hit a two-run double to left-center that scored Hoover and Sonja Nelson who had gotten on base earlier in the inning. Nicole DeKok followed with a double of her own that scored Clemens, and Lancaster Bible tied the game on a single from Adalyn Steiner with two outs.
 
The game stayed tied through the top of the seventh, but Courtney Fleisher tripled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for the Nittany Lions, and Pyle followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Fleisher and gave Penn St. Harrisburg the opener.
 
Inside the Box Score: Clemens finished game one 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored…Hoover was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while DeKok was also 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI…Steiner had a hit and a walk, and Nelson did as well…DeKok pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed five earned runs and struck out two.
 
Game 2
Penn St. Harrisburg 5, Lancaster Bible 4 (8 innings)
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible opened the scoring in game two, as Clemens and DeKok had back-to-back singles with two outs, and then came around to score on a two-run double by Kendra Brown.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the first, and the game stayed that way until the fourth. Alyssa Paulson walked to lead off the inning, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hope Hodges. Nelson reach on a fielder's choice a batter later, and after moving to second, she and Paulson scored on a two-run single to right field by Hoover.
 
The Nittany Lions tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, but DeKok got out of further trouble in the inning, as she got the final out of the inning with the bases loaded. The game stayed tied at 4-4, and the game went to extra innings. With a runner being placed on second at the beginning of each inning of extra innings, the Chargers got Steiner over to third with two outs, but couldn't bring her around in the top half of the eighth.
 
Penn St. Harrisburg fared better in their half of the eighth, as Regan Englehart moved to third on a sacrifice fly, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Delaney Nevius.
 
Inside the Box Score: Brown finished 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Chargers in game two, while Clemens and DeKok were each 2-for-4 with a run scored…Paulson and Hannah Lieb each had a hit in game two, as did Hoover…DeKok pitched the entire game again for the Chargers, as she scattered nine hits over 7 2/3 innings, and gave up just three earned runs.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 0-4 all-time against Penn St. Harrisburg…The only other meetings between the two teams came on March 20, 2019 when the Nittany Lions defeated the Chargers, 3-0 and 10-5 in a doubleheader…DeKok has eight hits through four games and five of them are for extra bases…Clemens has seven hits and seven runs in four games, while Hoover has six hits and six runs.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible is right back in action on Saturday, as the Chargers head to Williamsport, Pa. to face Penn College at 1 p.m.