Dowd’s hits helps Penguins earn split against Vikings

Staff report

Youngstown

Sophomore Sarah Dowd went 2-for-4 with a home run and drove in two runs in each game as the Youngstown State softball team split Saturday’s Horizon League doubleheader against Cleveland State.

The Penguins dropped the opener 10-7, but rallied to win the nightcap 8-5.

In the second game, the Penguins (12-19, 5-5) used a six-run second inning to erase a 3-0 deficit and added runs in the third and fourth innings to hold off the Vikings (18-14, 3-5).

Cali Mikovich led off the frame with a walk and moved to third on Kelly Thompson-Cappadocio’s double to right field. Alex Gibson, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs, singled to left field to score Mikovich.

Following a pair of groundouts, Maria Lacatena tied the game with a single to center, and Dowd crushed a two-run home run to give the Penguins a 5-3.

After Brittney Moffatt singled, Miranda Castiglione, who went 3-for-4, doubled home Moffatt to extent the Penguins’ lead to 6-3.

Cleveland State’s Cynthia Woodard hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the third to cut the lead to 6-4, but Gibson laced her first career home run over the left-field fence to push the YSU lead to 7-4 after three innings.

Thompson-Cappadocio’s base-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth gave the Penguins an 8-4 lead.

CSU’s Susan Knight led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run, but YSU freshman Ashley Koziol retired the final six Vikings batters to pick up the complete-game victory, her fifth win of the year.

Koziol allowed just six hits while striking out two and did not allow a walk.

In the opener, Cleveland State’s Mackenzie Joeken hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to break a 7-7 tie.

Trailing, 7-5, in the bottom of the fifth, Lacatena’s two-out, two-run single up the middle knotted the game at 7-7.

The Penguins led 5-1 after two innings before the Vikings scored three in the third and one more in the fourth to tie the game.

After Nena Doran led off the game with a home run, Mikovich, who went 3-for-3, singled up the middle to score Dowd and Castiglione scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch to take a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the second, Dowd crushed a two-run home run center field and Mikovich’s infield single scored Castiglione from second to extend the Penguins lead to 5-1.

Thompson-Cappadocio and Lacatena each had two hits in the opener and Lacatena also drove in two runs.