LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell Bison took the final two games of the weekend softball series with the Leopards, winning 2-0 and 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at Becker Field.
 
Mary Grace O'Neill did her part for the Maroon and White, banging out six hits as she continues to lead the Patriot League in hitting with a .452 average. The senior also come up with a diving catch in right field.
 
Game one was a pitchers' duel between Sophia Alvarez-Backus and Madison Roukey on a crisp day in Lewisburg. All of the scoring came in the first two innings.
 
The hosts pushed a run across in the first via a Brooke Popella RBI-double. Bucknell stretched the margin to 2-0 in the bottom of the second, using a Leopard error to set the stage for a double steal of home and second.
 
Alvarez-Backus worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third, by getting a line-out double play to end the frame.
 
The Leopards' best scoring threat of the game came in the fifth inning. Olivia Catalina and O'Neill each delivered one-out singles before Caroline Hall walked to load the bases. Roukey got a pop out and a foul out to end the inning with the 2-0 score intact.
 
Roukey scattered five hits with three walks over seven innings in the shutout. Alvarez-Backus allowed one earned run on seven hits while walking four in the loss.
 
Bucknell never trailed in game two, scoring two runs in the second and two in the third before breaking the game open with three runs in the fifth inning.
 
Haley Speicher and Savannah Jones drove in the runs in the second inning and were aided by a pair of Leopard errors. The Bison added two more in the third via singles by Molly Lawson and Angelina Seropian to lead 4-0.
 
Lafayette tallied its first run of the game in the fifth stanza. O'Neill plated Jocelyn O'Keeffe with a one-out single to center. That base hit saw Bucknell go to Roukey out of the bullpen. She retired the final two batters of the inning, as Bucknell led 5-1.
 
The hosts put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth inning, including a two-run single by Shea Malone. Lafayette pushed the final to 8-2, scoring a run on a first-and-third steal play following singles by O'Neill and Hall.
 
Roukey finished off the game to earn her first save of the season after giving up one run on four hits over three innings, while Jones collected the win. Parker Rowden, who allowed two earned runs on six hits over 2.2 innings, was tagged with the loss.
 
Next up, Lafayette will play a mid-week doubleheader vs. Drexel at 2 p.m. on April 23.