BEHREND'S KARGOL SMACKS THREE-RUN HOMER TO LIFT LIONS IN ECAC TOURNAMENT

Penn St. Behrend junior first baseman Kristen Kargol hit a three-run homer in the second inning to lift No. 4 Penn State Behrend past No. 5 Alvernia in the first round of the 2018 Division III Softball Championships on Wednesday afternoon.

Kargol smacked her team-leading fifth home run of the season to score three runs to get the Lions (31-12) past the Crusaders (23-14-1) and earn the right to host the championship weekend at Behrend.

Junior AJ Nichols started in the circle and only gave up four hits and two earned runs for her 18^th win of the season. Carson Hauser went 2-for-3 in the game as the lead-off batter.

Alvernia scored the first run in the second inning on an error with two runners on and a single by Mckenzie Miessau to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the frame, Alexa Bupp walked and then Jillian Williams singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Kargol ripped one over the fence on the next at-bat with one out for a 3-1 lead.

Kargol's home run proved to be the game-winning RBI after Alvernia only added one more run in the third on a double by Riley Shields to score Morgan Psiuk, who got on base with a single.

Shields also pitched for the Crusaders, only giving up three more hits after Kargols home run while striking out three.

The Lions will face the No. 1 seed Pfeiffer in game one of the semifinals on Saturday. Game time to be determined.