Cleveland, OH-The Cleveland State softball team finished 1-1 in a doubleheader with league leading Youngstown State on Friday afternoon at Viking Field. Cleveland State won the first game in dramatic fashion in its final at bat 3-1. YSU took the second game 8-3 and took the series two games to one. The Penguins are 17-4 in league play and the Vikings are 12-9. 

Game One 

Cleveland State got off to a fast start scoring the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Brooke Albaugh led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Melissa Holzopfel followed with a single through the left side scoring Albaugh to make it 1-0 Vikings.

Torrie Jenkins and Holzopfel combined to hold Youngstown State scoreless for the first five innings. In the sixth, back-to-back hits put runners at the corners with one out. YSU's Macy Litler was able to bring the tying run home on a sacrifice fly to even the score at one.

Following an extra-inning game in the series opener on Thursday, it appeared the second game of the series was headed that way. The Vikings failed to score in the bottom of the sixth and Youngstown could not score in the top of the seventh. The first two batters in the Cleveland State half of the seventh were retired. Peyton Mueller Stenz reached on an infield hit setting the stage for Sophie Spellman. Spellman launched a two-run shot over the left field wall to give Cleveland State the dramatic 3-1 win.

Game Two

The Vikings picked up right where they left off scoring two runs in the first inning to take an early lead. Cleveland State recorded four hits, with Alexa Sieger and Emma Gilkerson collecting RBI hits to make it 2-0 at the end of the first inning. 

YSU struck back in the second inning with four runs, the final two coming on a two-run home run from Sara Fessler. Youngstown State tallied four in the second, two in the third and two more in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead.

Cleveland State outhit Youngstown State 10-9 in the second game but Penguins starter Sophie Howell scattered those ten hits as the Vikings scored just one run the rest of the way.

Cleveland State will close the regular season next weekend as Northern Kentucky comes to town for a three-game weekend series scheduled to begin on Friday, May 3.