EASTON, Pa. – The Bucknell pitching staff held the Leopard bats in check in the final two games of the Patriot League-opening series. In game one, Bucknell pushed across a run in the eighth inning to claim a 2-1 final. In game two, the Bison parlayed a two-run third inning into a 4-1 score.
 
The Leopards were limited to one hit in Sunday's first game, so the Leopards manufactured their first run. Mary Grace O'Neill did all of the work to get on the scoreboard in the first. She drew a lead-off walk, stole second and third and then sprinted the remaining 60 feet after a wild offering from Bucknell starter Savannah Jones. Lafayette led 1-0.  
 
Bucknell knotted the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning. Jones delivered a two-out RBI-double to the wall in the left field, the second hit of the game off Lafayette starter Kailee Sawai.
 
The game went to extra innings, tied at 1-1. Bucknell's Zoie Smith doubled to start the inning and scored from third on Jones' two-out single. The go-ahead run chased Sawai from the game in favor of Jacqueline Cal.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter Kylee Sweet drew a lead-off walk, but Bucknell reliever Madison Roukey retired the next three hitters to claim the victory. She threw the final three innings of the game, holding Lafayette to one hit (an Olivia Catalina infield single in the seventh). Jones tossed five hitless innings, striking out six and walking four. Sawai was in the circle for 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on six with two Ks.
 
The runs came sooner in the nightcap, with each team scoring in the first inning. O'Neill (2-for-3) started things when she ripped the game's first pitch back through the box for a single. She stole second (running her season stolen base total to 18) and later scored on a sac fly from Megan Coyle.
 
Bucknell took the lead for good in the third inning, as three Bison hits and two Leopard errors led to two runs and a 3-1 advantage. The visitors added an insurance run in the sixth, scoring on three hits while leaving the bases loaded for the second time.
 
Roukey, who scattered five hits while striking out five, secured her third win of the series. Cal took the start and the loss, giving up two earned runs on three hits over two innings. Morrigan Gardiner allowed one unearned run on nine hits over five innings.
 
Lafayette will next be in action on Tuesday at Drexel in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.