YSU drops another twinbill

Butler won two close games as the Penguins' losing streak grew to five.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANFIELD -- Even the celebration of senior day wasn't enough to shake the Youngstown State softball team out of its doldrums Saturday.
The Penguins extended their losing streak to five straight, dropping an Horizon League doubleheader to Butler 3-1 in eight innings in the opener and 5-4 in the nightcap at McCune Park.
It was the second doubleheader loss in three days by the Penguins, who were swept by Cleveland State Thursday at McCune. The five-game losing streak, all at McCune, is the longest this season since the Penguins dropped seven straight at the beginning of the year.
YSU (28-20, 7-6 Horizon) went into this week sitting in second place in the standings. Now, the Penguins find themselves needing a victory today in their regular-season finale to salvage the No. 4 seed in next week's league tournament.
The Penguins will finish in fifth place if they lose to Butler (15-36, 9-9) today at 11 a.m. Illinois-Chicago leads the standings, followed by Cleveland State and Loyola.
Stranded runners
On Saturday, the Penguins had opportunities, but couldn't produce the big hit, leaving 19 runners stranded in the two games.
"We left 11 runners on base in the opener and that was a big part of our problem," YSU coach Christy Cameron said.
"We let them hang around a lot longer that we should have and then they came up with the big hit when they needed it," Cameron said.
The Penguins need a win today to avoid going into the tournament on a six-game losing skid.
"We have to come out and refocus on what we're doing," Cameron said. "If we need to do one thing, it is to be aggressive and maybe we can make some good things happen."
Butler's Jamie Bradley was the thorn in the Penguins' side as she hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to win the opener and then connected for another two-run shot in the seventh inning of the nightcap that gave the Bulldogs a 5-2 advantage.
Round one
In the opening game, YSU senior Kelly Murphy took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning, but the Bulldogs rallied to tie the score on a single, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch by Murphy and a sacrifice fly.
In the eighth, Murphy walked JoAnna Gonzalez to open the inning and after one out, Bradley crushed a drive deep over the center-field fence for the win.
YSU blew a big chance in the sixth inning as Lacy Reichert opened with a double and Amanda Berry followed with a bunt single, but Reichert was caught off third base and tagged out in a rundown.
Kiisha Warfield singled in Berry for the Penguins' only run in the inning, which included five hits and three runners stranded.
Berry connects
Berry, who had five hits on the day, had a double in each game while Amber Smith added three singles in the opener.
YSU took a 1-0 lead in the second game in the first inning as Tiffany Patteson walked, was sacrificed to second by Lacy Bronson and scored on Berry's second double of the day off the left field fence.
Butler took the lead with a three-run second inning that included five hits off YSU pitcher Karlie Burnell and a Penguin error.
YSU cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth when Warfield singled to lead off and Megan Bricker came on to pinch run and scored on Jenn Hartman's single.
But in the seventh, with one out, Burnell gave up an infield single to Melissa Limrick and then Bradley ripped a shot over the left field fence to a 5-2 lead.
The Penguins scored twice in the seventh on three straight hits by Bronson, Reichert and Berry, but the rally ended when Warfield struck out.
Berry, Hartman, Reichert and Amber Smith were the seniors honored between games.
mollica@vindy.com