Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 READING, Pa. – The Penn State Abington softball team fell twice to turnpike rival, Penn State Berks by a score of 4-1 and 10-2 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference matchup Sunday afternoon.

With the loss, Abington is now 20-8 overall and locked in for the second spot in the conference standings at 14-4, while Berks improve to 26-8 on the year and the leader of the NEAC South Division with an 18-2 record.

Freshman Danielle Jones and sophomore Michaela Drogalis both led the squad with .400 batting average after a combine effort of 4-for-10 at the plate with a pair of doubles and a run, while sophomore Nicole Battaglio collected two RBIs and a home run after going 1-for-4 at the plate.

In the first game of the day, Berks jumped ahead early, scoring three runs on four hits in the second and third inning to get on the board for the 3-0 score.

Abington managed to come to life in the fifth inning as Kidd walked before rounding over to third on a double by Drogalis. On the next batter, Battaglio successfully pulled off a sacrifice fly out to right field, allowing senior Sam Kidd to tag up at third and score on the play, but it was the only run that the Nittany Lions could score as Berks's pitcher, Casey Hafer would fan seven Abington batters in the contest. Berks closed out the game with an additional run in the sixth frame for the 4-1 score and held on for the first win of the day.

Abington looked to rebound from the loss and managed to open the nightcap with a run of its own to start the first inning as Jones reached first on a single before moving over to third on a pass ball and a tag up off a fly foul ball before scoring home, unearned, on a wild pitch to give Abington the 1-0 lead.

The pressure was on and Berks broke through Abington's defense, utilizing a five-run second inning to shift the momentum for the 5-1 lead before adding on three more runs in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 8-1.

Abington hoped to produce a comeback late in the top of the fifth as Battaglio knocked the ball out of the park towards center filed for the lone RBI and Abington's second run of the game, but Berks' pitcher, Megan Olsen, would just force the final two Abington batters to pop up into the infield to end the game early on the mercy rule as Berks completed the sweep with a 10-2 victory in the twinbill.

Abington will look to close out the conference schedule tomorrow as it hosts Wilson College in a makeup doubleheader game. The first pitch is slated for 2 p.m.