PAINESVILLE, OHIO -- Pitcher Pam Bykowski’s (Perry, Ohio/Perry/Armstrong Atlantic) second straight strong start and an opportunistic offense led the Lake Erie College softball team to a 4-0 win over host Urbana University in the opening game of a doubleheader Saturday (March 27), snapping a five-game losing streak. Urbana came back to take game two, 5-4.

Bykowski (2-4) scattered five hits over six shutout innings and junior 3B Brittany Sostre (Parma, Ohio/Valley Forge) homered as the Storm (5-19) recorded its first shutout of the season. 

Lake Erie scored three times with two outs in the third innings, picking up a pair of runs when Urbana 3B Tienna Steele committed two errors on the same play. Later in the frame, sophomore OF Haley Rathge (Edon, Ohio/Napoleon) had an RBI single to make the score 3-0.

Sostre hit a solo shot with one out in the fifth to make it 4-0. She had two hits in the game, as did Rathge and sophomore 1B Lindsey Pennell (Columbus, Ohio/Westland) Junior Lauren Malicki (Independence, Ohio/Independence) pitched a perfect seventh to close the game.

The Blue Knights (7-10) scored three quick runs in the bottom of the first in game two, getting a pair of unearned runs on an error by Sostre. Urbana pushed its lead to 4-0 when Steele scored on a wild pitch in the third.

Lake Erie responded with two runs in the fourth. Sostre reached on an error and scored on a triple by junior OF Danielle Finkler (Chardon, Ohio/Berkshire). Rathge followed with an RBI-single to cut the deficit in half.

Brooke Shultz singled in what would be a much needed insurance run in the fifth, as Lake Erie scored twice in the sixth. Freshman SS Jessica Smith (Columbus, Ohio/Whitehall) and sophomore C Megan Foley (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) each singled to score a run, but Foley was thrown out trying to extend her hit into a double, ending the threat.

Finkler and Smith each had two hits to pace the Lake Erie offense. Freshman Lyndsie Delprato (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) made her first start, but was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs- two earned- on five hits in three innings. Sophomore Sam Ronde (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) allowed just one run in three innings of relief.     

Chelsea Mead got the win for the Knights, while Jessie Swinderman earned the save.

The Storm is next in action on Wednesday, March 31, against Walsh University at home.