WASHINGTON, D.C. – The end result on Sunday at the Gallaudet University softball field was a split between the Bison and visiting Penn St.-Abington but the victory earned by Gallaudet was record setting. Gallaudet dropped the first game of its North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) doubleheader against the Nittany Lions 15-4 in five innings but bounced back with a 7-6 win in the second contest. That victory was the fourth conference win for the Bison in a season to set a new program mark.

Gallaudet joined the NEAC this past summer after spending 20 years in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC). The Bison won three conference games in a season several times in the CAC, the last time was in 2000.

The Bison (7-19, 4-10 NEAC South) moved into fourth place in the NEAC South standings with Sunday's results over Abington (3-21, 3-9).

The Nittany Lions jumped out to an early 4-0 in the second game as the Bison came up to bat in the bottom of the third inning. Gallaudet got on the scoreboard with three runs off four singles and one fielding error by Abington. Junior Jessica Buckwalter (Palmyra, Mo.) came through with a two-run single to cut the Nittany Lion lead to one, 4-3. Gallaudet scored two runs in the fourth and fifth innings as senior Alicia Balzer (Montgomery Village, Md.) came through with a double in the fourth and a two-run single in the fifth. She finished the game with a 3-for-4 batting line as she scored two runs and drove in two. Freshman Rachel Sweigart (Big Rock, Ill.) pitched a complete game as she improved her record to 2-3 as she allowed six runs (four earned) over seven innings pitched where she walked eight and threw five wild pitches. Three of the six runs scored by the Nittany Lions came off the bat of Trish Watson who hit a three-run home run in the second inning off Sweigart.

In the first game, Gallaudet held a brief 3-2 lead after two innings before Abington tied the game in the top of third and then exploded for seven runs in the fourth and pushed across five in the fifth. Sophomore pitcher Alicia Johnson (San Jose, Calif.) suffered the loss as she allowed 15 runs (10 earned) off 10 hits, nine walks and one strikeout. Fellow sophomore Nicole O'Malley (Fredericksburg, Va.) had the big hit for the Bison with a two-run single in the second inning.

Gallaudet remains in conference play this week as the Bison will travel to College of St. Elizabeth on Tuesday, April 19, for a doubleheader that starts at 3:30 p.m. GU swept a home doubleheader against St. Elizabeth last Friday.