NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Facing a pair of Penn State branch campuses, the Ursinus Softball team split its second day of action down at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic on Monday. The Bears responded with a dominant 13-2 win over Penn State Harrisburg in five innings after dropping its first game of the season to Penn State Altoona, 7-4.
 
 
The Bears split moves their record to 5-1 overall while both Penn State Harrisburg and Altoona now hold 2-2 records.
 
 
Penn State Altoona 7, Ursinus 4
 
After a scoreless first two full innings, the Bears got on the board in the top of the third when first-year Kayla Carr hit a double off the wall in left center field with two outs to drive home sophomore Samantha Mallen from second base. The Nittany Lions loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth and tied up the game at one on a bloop single that landed between the dirt and outfield grass. Junior Maddie Solow then tossed out the go-ahead run after a fly out with a strong throw from center to end the threat. Mallen drew a walk to open the top of the fifth and came around to score to give Ursinus a 2-1 lead after an errant throw on a stolen base attempt went deep into the outfield.  Altoona loaded the bases with one out once again in the bottom of the fifth and tied the game back up at three on a single plus fielding error. Senior Alexis Miller relieved starter Stephanie Wichman and got out of the jam by forcing a pop fly and catching a Nittany Lions runner trying to score from third base. The Nittany Lions did the game-winning damage in the bottom of the sixth as they scored four runs off three hits and one error. Altoona initially took the lead with a single before getting insurance runs from a bases-clearing three-run double. The Bears rallied to get a run in the top of the seventh after Carr hit her second RBI double of the game with two outs before a fly out ended the game.
 
 
Ursinus 13, Penn State Harrisburg 2 (5 innings)
 
Ursinus jumped on the Nittany Lions in the top of the second as Solow opened the frame with a double and came around to score when senior Allyson Meakim roped a single up the middle. Meakim came through again in the top of the third by clearing the bases with a two-out double to put the Bears up 4-0. The Ursinus scoring outburst continued in the top of the fourth when two runs came around to score after a throw from a bunt single from Mallen sailed deep into the outfield, making it 6-0. Senior Amanda Panati and Carr followed with singles before a botched grounder at third base in the next at-bat brought Panati home to bring the score to 7-0. Meakim continued her career game by knocking two more runs across, extending the Bears lead to 9-0. The Nittany Lions were able to get onto the board with a two-run single after ending a potential no-hit bid from Miller with one out in the bottom of the fourth. However, Carr crushed a grand slam to left field in the top of the fifth to put the Bears up 13-2 that enacted the run rule after the Nittany Lions were retired in the bottom of the fifth.
 
 
Meakim went 3-of-4 from the plate and drove in a career-high six RBI's against Harrisburg. The six RBI's were the most in a game by a Bear since Zoe Heinke had seven against Gordon back in March 2016. Carr went a combined 4-of-6 from the plate in the two games with six RBI's while Panati went 3-of-4 with two runs scored against Harrisburg. Miller bounced back from being saddled with the loss against Altoona by allowing two earned runs on just one hit in 3.1 innings with four strikeouts and two walks to earn the win against Harrisburg. First-year Christa Andrusiewicz closed the game out by throwing 1.2 innings and allowed two hits with one strikeout.
 
 
 
The Bears have Tuesday off before returning to action on Wednesday, March 8th as they will have a rematch with Penn State Altoona at 9:00 a.m. before facing Cazenovia at 1:00 p.m.