Erie, PA-The D'Youville softball team used the long ball to jump out to early leads in both games of their AMCC doubleheader at Penn State Behrend. Both times the host Lions came back to sting the Spartans and sweep the two-game set.

Behrend won the first game 6-3 and then scored in their final at-bat to edge the Spartans 7-6 in game two.

Amanda Drake (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) opened the scoring in game one with her first career home run in the third inning.  One inning later, Drake's two-out RBI single made it 2-0 Spartans.

Behrend would answer with a five-run fifth inning and tack on a tally in the sixth. Only two of the runs were earned as Spartan fielders made four errors in the field.

In the nightcap, MacKenzie Kehlenbeck (Oakfield, NY/Oakfield-Alabama) would hit a grand slam in the top of third and the Spartans were staked to an early 4-0 lead. Behrend would answer in the bottom of the frame with a three-spot. 

A Lisa Petty (North Tonawanda, NY/Mount St. Mary Academy) RBI single in the fourth scored Hannah Turek (Depew, NY/Lancaster) who doubled to open the inning. Behrend answered right back and it was 5-4 after four.

Two in the Behrend sixth made ot 6-5 for the home team and now the Spartans needed a rally of their own. Kehlenbeck would double to open the seventh, advance on an error, and tie the game at six apiece on a Shannon Sutton (Lykens, PA/Upper Dauphin) RBI ground out.

A one-out bases loaded walk-off single by Behrend in the seventh made it 7-6 and gave the home team the game two win.

The two losses put the Spartans in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings with a 6-6 league record. D'Youville is tied with La Roche and Medaille, two opponents the Spartans host this upcoming weekend.

Before that, D'Youville plays tomorrow (April 23) at AMCC rival Hilbert College. Doubleheader start time in Hamburg, NY is 3:00 p.m.