Youngstown State softball drops two

Staff report

CLEVELAND

The Youngstown State softball team dropped a pair of Horizon League games to Cleveland State as part of a doubleheader Saturday.

Sophomore pitcher Hana Somogyi allowed just six hits and one earned run, but a pair of errors proved costly as the Penguins fell 3-1.

The Penguins (22-21, 5-13 Horizon League) got a home run out of Haley Thomas, her seventh of the year, but couldn’t muster enough offense.

The Vikings (23-17, 8-6) jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of miscues by the Penguin defense. A pair of throwing errors gave the home team a run in the third and fourth innings.

Thomas’ blast came in the top of the sixth to pull the Penguins within one.

But Dara Toman answered back for the Vikings, knocking a shot over the fence to put the game out of reach.

Offense was the story of the nightcap, too. But this time it was the lack of that firepower that was the big story.

The Penguins mustered just a pair of singles off of the Viking pitchers. Only Thomas and Sarah Gabel connected to put a notch in the hit column.

The Vikings did the opposite, scoring early and often. They scored five runs in the bottom of the first and four in the bottom of the fourth innings to put the game on ice early.

The Penguins will close out the regular season with a three-game home series against Green Bay beginning May 7 at McCune Park in Canfield.