Hazleton, PA – Cairn University softball traveled to play the Nittany Lions of Penn State Hazleton on Wednesday afternoon and lost both games of the doubleheader (9-4, 4-3). With the losses Cairn dropped to 0-26 on the season, while Penn State Hazleton improved to 15-8 overall.
 
The Nittany Lions pulled ahead early on in game one by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Highlanders actually scored first though, with one run in the top of the inning. PSU Hazleton built an 8-1 lead by the end of the fourth inning before Cairn responded in the fifth.
 
The Highlanders got three more runs on the board before the end of the game, but it wasn't enough against the Nittany Lions. Kelly Hendrickson recorded the loss for Cairn in the first game. Cairn was led by Brigid Shehan with her three RBI; Jocelyn Good had three hits in the game and one run scored.
 
Game two started very similar to the first, with Cairn scoring one run in the top of the first inning and Hazleton responding with multiple runs in the bottom half. The Nittany Lions managed to score three runs in the first but Cairn then held them off until the sixth inning.
 
Cairn scored a second run in the third inning to bring the score to 3-2 but wouldn't add their third until the top of the seventh. Unfortunately, by that time Hazleton added a fourth run in the bottom of the sixth and the Highlanders fell 4-3 in the end. Tiffany Gower was in the circle for the Highlanders in game two.
 
Despite losing by one run, the Highlanders collected more hits than the Nittany Lions in game two, 10-8. Shehan again led the team in hitting, this time with three hits and two RBI. The other RBI belonged to Jocelyn Good, who also had two hits in the game. Jessica Good had another two hits, as well as two runs scored.
 
The Highlanders will next travel to Baptist Bible College on Friday, Apr. 17, to take on the Defenders in CSAC action.