ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend softball team posted two shutout victories against Pitt-Greensburg in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) doubleheader on Saturday morning.
The Lions (20-8, 9-3 AMCC) won the opener 7-0 and then added a 4-0 victory in the nightcap. Junior second base Katie Gozzard (Pittsburgh, PA/Deer Lakes) tallied a hit in each game and registered her 100th career hit in the bottom of the sixth in the second contest.
AJ Nichols (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) threw six scoreless innings and fanned seven batters before getting relief from Alexa Bupp (Warren, PA/Warren) in the seventh. Carson Hauser went 2-for-3 with two runs in game one, while Bupp and Kristen Kargol (Saegertown, PA/Cambridge Springs) smacked a double.
Hauser did all the work to get Behrend on the board in the bottom of the first. Hauser singled and advanced on an error, then reached third on a wild pitch before scoring on an error for a 1-0 lead. The Lions tallied five runs on five hits in the third to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
Nichols posted an RBI single through the left side in the fourth to score Hauser for the final run of game one.
Behrend managed to get the shut out in game two thanks to the pitching of Brittney Williams (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake). She only gave up for hits in 6.1 innings of work, while Bupp recorded the final two outs of the inning to get the sweep.
Bupp also recorded two hits and Kendra Schreck (Emlenton, PA/Cranberry) drove in two runs in game two.
It took a Bupp single and a hit from Schreck to give the Lions an early lead in the second. Schreck got Bupp home from second for a 1-0 edge.
Behrend would not score again until the sixth inning, adding three more runs. Gozzard started the inning with her 100th career hit and then scored on an RBI single to left center by Nichols. Nichols then came home on an error, before Schreck knocked Bupp in on a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Lions return to action on Monday at Buffalo State. The doubleheader begins at 3:30 p.m.