SCRANTON, Pa. – The Union College softball team held a three-run lead in the fifth inning of both games on Sunday against the University of Scranton, but the Royals came back in both contests to pull out 6-5 (8 inn.) and 7-6 victories over the Garnet Chargers.
 
Game 1: Scranton 6, Union 5 (8 innings)
 
Union let a lead get away in the first game of the day, as Scranton scored the final four runs to erase a three-run deficit and win in extra innings. Senior Ellie Wintringer and sophomore Kyla Springer both had two hits and scored a run for the visitors, while Wintringer, sophomore Carra Cleaves and first-year Sarah Geackel drove in runs.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Union struck first in the top of the second after Wintringer led off with a double and eventually came home hanks to a Scranton error. Wintringer doubled the lead in the third with a sacrifice fly to score Geackel, who led off the inning with her first collegiate hit. It was then Geackel's turn to add to the lead, plating Cleaves with an RBI ground out to put Union up three.
 
Cleaves allowed just one hit in cruising through the first three innings, but a single, triple and sacrifice fly gave the Royals their first two runs of the day in the fourth. However, Union got those runs back in the top of the fifth thanks to a Cleaves sacrifice fly and another Scranton error.
 
Cleaves departed after five innings in line for the win, but the home team struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth off first-year Amelia Brancazio to tie the score, taking advantage of five walks and needing only two hits.
 
The teams both had their chances in the eighth inning with the international tiebreaker in effect. Union had the go-ahead run at third with one out in the top half but could not convert, while Scranton got a game-winning single from Quin Doherty in the bottom half to steal the win.
 
Cleaves took a no-decision, allowing two runs on three hits in five frames. First-year Coco Medeiros (0-1) suffered the loss for Union in her collegiate pitching debut, tossing a scoreless seventh but giving up the winner in the eighth.
 
Game 2: Scranton 7, Union 6
 
Both teams mounted comebacks in the second game of the day, with each squad erasing a three-run deficit in the later stages only to see Scranton push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to complete the sweep.
 
Juniors Sophia Gomes and Sam Rose as well as sophomore Sammy Fenigstein had a team-best two hits apiece in game two, with Rose and Gomes also chipping in a team-leading two RBIs each.
 
Brancazio and Emma Douglas traded zeros for the first four innings, with the teams combining for just three hits, before both teams broke through in the fifth. Fenigstein started Union's rally with a double and came home on a single by Gomes to open the scoring, and Rose followed with a two-run double to put the visitors up by three. The lead did not last long, however, as Scranton hit two homers as part of a six-run bottom half to take back the lead.
 
The Garnet Chargers scraped away at the deficit, getting one in the sixth and two more in their last at-bat to tie the score at six. After one runner was cut down at the plate in the sixth, Gomes delivered a two-out single to score Fenigstein and make it a two-run game. The visitors got back within a run just two batters into the seventh, thanks to a leadoff single and stolen base by Rose, followed by a Springer RBI base hit. Fenigstein drove in Springer with an infield grounder and got to second base as the go-ahead run with one out, but Union came up a hit short and the game remained tied.
 
Unfortunately for Union, the lack of a lead came back to bite them in the bottom half, as a leadoff walk, error and double allowed the Royals to win on a walkoff.
 
Brancazio allowed three runs on four hits in 4.1 innings and finished with a no-decision. Cleaves (1-1) came on in relief in the sixth inning and got out of the inning before conceding an unearned run in the seventh to take the loss.
 
Union will take time off for finals before heading down south for The Spring Games, playing 10 games in six games beginning on Saturday, March 21 with contests against the University of Chicago and Knox College.