PHILADELPHIA- The University of Pennsylvania softball team dropped a pair of games against Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Penn Park. The Quakers dropped a back-and-forth game one, 6-3 in eight innings, and fell in game two, 7-3.

With the losses, the Red and Blue drop to 7-17, 2-6 in the Ivy and 5-3 at home. The Lions move to 11-15, 6-2 in the conference and 4-5 on the road.

In the bottom of the sixth inning of game two, senior Brianna Brown collected her 100th career-hit to highlight the day for Penn.

FINAL/8: Columbia 6, Penn 3
The Lions jumped on the board in the top of the first inning, when Rachel Riley surrendered a ground-rule double to Jaden Hill, Columbia's leadoff batter. With one out Cami Neal picked up the second ground-rule double of the inning, scoring Hill.

Columbia added another run in the top of the third after Savanna Messner doubled, scoring Eleni Katsivalis, and extending the lead, 2-0.

Penn cut the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Chloe Lesko walked, and Katie Reagan was hit by a pitch. Julia Mortimer then singled to right field, bringing in Lesko. Mortimer and Reagan then advanced on the throw. After the conclusion of the fourth, Penn trailed, 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Madison Bauerle singled through the left side and advanced to second after Brianna Brown laid down a sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Delaney Smith singled to left field, and a throwing error by the right fielder allowed Bauerle to score and tie the game 2-2.

Neither team scored in the sixth inning, as Caroline Palys hit a solo home run with two away to give Columbia the 3-2 lead.

Entering the bottom of the seventh, with a chance to walk-it-off, the Quakers got the first two batters on base with a walk, and a single by Brown. Smith put one on the ground at second, an error was made allowing Brown to advance to second and Maia Hartley, who pinch ran for Bauerle, to advance to third. Sammy Fenton collected a base-knock, which scored Hartley and tied the game 3-3. On the same play, Brown was thrown out a third, for the first out of the frame. Back-to-back fly-outs ended the walk-off opportunity, as the Red and Blue left two on base.

Now in extra-innings, Cami Neal led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and moved to second when Katsivalis dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Payton Shimanski followed up with a single to center, moving Neal to third. Sarah Mikami was then hit by the pitch, which loaded the bases. A single and a sacrifice fly brought in a pair of runs, as Columbia took a 6-3 lead.

Down by three runs, entering the bottom of the eighth, Katie Reagan singled up the middle, but a pair of groundouts and a strikeout ended the game, as the Quakers fell 6-3.

 FINAL: Columbia 7, Penn 3 
Dana Anderson led off the bottom of the second with a double down the right field line and Jade Montgomery came in to pinch run. Katie Reagan flied out and Chloe Lesko walked to put two on with one out. Julia Mortimer struck out, which brought Blake Landow to the plate with two away. The freshman singled down the left field line to load the bases. During Madison Bauerle's at-bat, starting pitcher, Sarah Mikami tossed a wild pitch, scoring Montgomery as both runners moved up a base. At the end of the second, Penn led 1-0.

To begin the third, staring pitcher Payton Bean walked Caroline Palys, which was followed up by a Jade Hill double to left center. With two in scoring position and no outs, Savanna Messner popped up to second. The next at-bat, Cami Neal let one fly over the outfield wall, to give Columbia the 3-1 lead.

After a scoreless fourth, the Lions extended their lead after Neal launched her second home run of the game in the top of the fifth. 
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Anderson led off the frame with a walk and then advanced to second when Lesko singled up the middle. Blake Landow placed a bunt for a single, as Lesko moved to second and Freer who pinch ran for Anderson, advanced to third. Bauerle then drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Lesko, and cut the deficit to three, 5-2. The very next at-bat, Brown notched her 100th career-hit with a grounder to the pitcher, that Brown beat-out with a headfirst slide into first base. With the base-knock, Brown drove in Lesko for Penn's third run of the game. 

In the final frame, Neal reached on an error at third, and Maddi Souza singled and advanced to second on the throw home. The errant throw allowed Neal to round the bases and score, extending Columbia's lead 6-3. A wild pitch moved Souza up 60 feet, as she was then brought in on a single from Georgia Corey, making the game 7-3. 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Quakers went down in order to fall, 7-3 in game two of Saturday's twin bill. 

Quaker Notemeal

• The Quakers totaled eight hits in game one, two apiece from Brown and Reagan. Smith, Fenton, Mortimer and Bauerle added one knock each.
• Fenton and Mortimer accounted for the lone RBIs in game one.
• Lesko, Bauerle and Hartley scored Penn's three runs in game one.
• In game one, Riley went 7.1 innings, gave up six runs, 13 hits and struck out three.
• In two-thirds of relief work, Olivia Szewczyk struck out a batter and did not surrender a hit.
• Brown and Landow had two base-knocks in game two.
• Brown entered Saturday afternoon at 96 hits, just four shy of the 100-hit mark. Brown collected two hits in each game to reach the threshold.
• Fenton, Anderson and Lesko each provided a hit in game two.
• Montgomery, Freer and Lesko scored the three runs in game two.
• Brown provided the RBI in game two, with her infield single in the bottom of the sixth.
• Starting pitcher, Bean threw four innings, gave up four hits and five earned runs, while striking out three.
• In three innings of relief, Szewczyk gave up five hits, no earned runs and struck out one.

Up Next
Penn will conclude the series tomorrow against Columbia with a first pitch slated for 12:30 p.m. at Penn Park