NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Senior Kayla Kline (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg Area) ripped a three-run home run in the seventh inning and freshman Morgan Wetzel (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) hit a solo home run in the sixth inning against Fitchburg State to lead the Lycoming College softball team on its first day of the 2020 season, as it posted an 11-1 win over the Falcons to split the day after falling to defending SLIAC champion Eureka, 5-0, in the opening game on Monday, March 9, at the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex.
 
Wetzel went 6-for-8 during her first day as a Warrior, hitting for a cycle in the doubleheader with a double, triple, homer and three singles. Sophomore Morgan Christine (Reigelsville, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) went 5-for-7 with three RBI and Kline went 3-for-7 with a homer, as she moved into a tie for second in school history with nine career homers.
 
After dropping the season opener, the Warriors (1-1 overall) came out strong in the second game against the Falcons (3-1 overall). Wetzel went 4-for-5, with a double, home run and two RBIs and Christine added three hits to lead the Warriors' offense, which exploded for 15 hits. Freshman Payton Whary (Coal Township, Pa./Shamokin Area) earned her first career win with six innings of work, scattering six hits and an earned run with one strike out and one walk.
 
Wetzel got the Warriors out to a quick start with a double that scored senior Madison Brown (McElhattan, Pa./Central Mountain) in the first inning. Kline and Wetzel scored on the next at-bat on a Christine single. Lycoming added three more runs in the third inning with Wetzel reaching on an error, Christine hitting a single into right and senior Darci Warriner (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area) knocking in Wetzel with an RBI single to right center. Sophomore Angie King (Cooperstown, Pa./Maplewood) scored Christine with a single of her own and Brown drove in Warriner on Lycoming's fourth single of the frame to make it a 6-0 game.
 
The Falcons added a run in the fifth before the Warriors added one in the sixth on Wetzel's solo home run to left field. In the seventh, Warriner singled to left and scooting around the bases to score on a wild pitch before Kline lifted a pitch over the left field wall to score King and junior Taylor Gessner (Lewisburg, Pa./Meadowbrook Christian).
 
Against Eureka (5-0 overall), the Warriors compiled eight hits as Gessner, Wetzel and Christine each went 2-for-3. Wetzel ripped a triple in the second inning. King threw four innings in relief, forcing eight ground outs and a strikeout while giving up two hits and an earned run.
 
The Red Devils pushed across three runs in the bottom of the second inning with back-to-back doubles to the center field wall from Erin Smith and Aubrey Sande. Eureka scored two more runs in the fourth and sixth innings from the bat of Smith.
 
Whary took the loss, allowing three runs and five hits in two innings and Smith earned the win, completing the eight-hit shutout with four strikeouts.
 
The Warriors take the field on day two of the Fast Pitch Dreams Spring Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., with afternoon games against Norwich and Penn State Abington on Tuesday, March 10, at 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.