EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette softball captured a Saturday split with Patriot League foe Bucknell on Senior Day. After dropping game one, 4-0, the Leopard offense came alive and helped take game two, 6-4.
 
Prior to the first game, graduating seniors Natasha Miner and Kinzi Van Wyk were honored along with their families.
 
The Leopards' offense got an early start in game two, pushing across four runs in the first inning. Doubles by Kaya Ciccone-Cozart and Kaili Reitano resulted in a pair of runs. Van Wyk followed by ripping a RBI-single in the right centerfield gap. She then extended the advantage to 4-0, scoring on a wild offering from Bucknell starter Kaiya Burton.
 
Leopard starter Kailee Sawai pitched her way out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third inning. After giving up a pair of walks and a single, Sawai struck out Sarah Baluch to keep the four-run lead intact.
 
In the bottom of the inning, the Leopards used some two-out lighting as Van Wyk drew a walk and then scored all the way from first on Julia Roman's double down the line. Lafayette led 5-0.
 
Bucknell cut into the Leopards' lead in the fourth inning, scoring three runs on three hits. The rally pushed Sawai from the game in favor of Jacqueline Cal.
 
The Maroon and White added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, as pinch runner Julia Romano scored on Roman's (3-for-3) single through the left side.
 
In the top of the sixth, a collision in left centerfielder led to Bucknell's fourth run. Paige Sandidge, who made several spectacular plays in right field, kept another run off the board and ended the inning when she snagged the third out.
 
Cal retired Bucknell in order in the seventh to end the game with a win after allowing one run on four hits over 3.2 innings.
 
In game one, the Leopard offense could never really get things going, held two just three hits on five strikeouts over 5.1 innings by Bucknell starter Olivia Marinelli.
 
Bucknell took the lead in the second inning, scoring a run on a sac fly, and then added two more in the fourth to lead 3-0. The Bison margin could have been extended in the inning, but Sandidge made a sliding catch in right field to end the inning.
 
Lafayette had its best scoring opportunity in the bottom of the sixth. A lead-off hit and a sac bunt prompted a pitching change as Bucknell replaced Marinelli with Kelly Toomey. Toomey hit the first batter she faced, Miner, but then struck out the next two, ending the inning.
 
Lafayette and Bucknell wrap up the series on Sunday at noon.