BALTIMORE, Md. – Harlie Bickett and Kylee Sweet each drove in a pair of runs as Lafayette claimed a 5-4 win over Youngstown State on Saturday morning in the opening game of the UMBC Retriever Round Robin.

The victory was the first head-coaching win for Karavin Dew who took over the Leopard program prior to the start of the 2023 season.

Lafayette spotted Youngstown State, the home team on the scoreboard, three runs on five hits over the first two innings. The Leopards pushed across their first run in the top of the third inning when Sweet's groundout to the right side scored Erica Brasher to make it 3-1.

YSU extended the advantage to 4-1 with a triple and a sac fly in the third inning.

The Maroon and White tied things up in the fourth inning, plating three runs on four hits. Olivia Catalina smoked a single up the middle to score Megan Coyle who had reached on a one-out double. Bickett tied the game, connecting for a two-out, two-run double that scored Catalina and Grace Hausamann for the 4-4 tie.

Leopard starter Jacqueline Cal did not allow a hit in the fifth, giving Lafayette the chance to take its first lead of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Sweet singled home Bickett who started the inning with a two-out infield single. Lafayette led 5-4.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Cal gave up just one hit, but the defense committed two errors, putting runners at the corners with one out. Cal enticed the YSU pinch hitter to line out into a double play to end the inning.

Cal retired Youngstown State in order in the seventh to close out the win.  

In game two, Lafayette could never really initiate the offense, held to four hits in a 6-0 final. 

UMBC got things going in the first inning on Ashley Della Guardia's two-run home run that staked the hosts to a lead they would not relinquish. 

The Retrievers added two more in the third inning with a pair of hits, but it was an error and a wild pitch that led to two additional runs for UMBC's 4-0 lead. The home team stretched the margin to 6-0 with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.  

UMBC starter Jerzie Nutile limited the Leopard offense, allowing a Sweet double in the fourth, a single by Kaya Ciccone-Cozart in the sixth and knocks by Marisa Powell and Megan Coyle in the seventh inning. The Powell and Coyle singles gave the Leopards their best scoring chance, but Powell was cut down at the plate trying to score on Coyle's two-out single.  

Soph. Morrigan Gardiner threw all six innings in the circle for the Leopards, allowing six runs on 11 hits.

Lafayette returns to action Sunday, playing Youngstown State at 10 a.m. and UMBC at 3 p.m.