University Park, Pa. – The Robert Morris University softball team split a two-game set at Penn State Wednesday night, falling in the opener, 9-7, before bouncing back for a 5-0 victory in game two at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
 
 The Colonials middle infielders, Natalie Higgins and Taryn Miller, combined to go 7-for-14 with eight runs batted in and four runs scored. Higgins had a pair of doubles, a triple and three runs batted in on her 4-for-7 day. Miller was 3-for-7, knocking in five runs with her three singles. Briana Bunner went 2-for-6 and hit her second homer of the year.
 
Penn State starter Madey Smith put the first four batters on in game one, allowing the first RMU run to score without a ball being put in play when she threw a wild pitch with the bases juiced. A one-out bases loaded single by Miller put the Colonials on top, 3-0, after the first. The lead went to 4-0 in the second when Natalie Higgins drove in Taylor Bartlow with a single. The Nittany Lions used two walks and an error to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second.
 
Three consecutive hits by Robert Morris in the fourth stretched the lead to 7-2. Higgins tripled home Bunner, then Abrielle McCartney beat out an infield hit to plate Higgins. Olivia Lorusso doubled to left, moving McCartney to third and allowing her to score on Miller's grounded out.
 
Penn State got a single run back in the bottom of the inning before completing an unlikely comeback in the fifth. After a Toni Polk triple plated one run in the fifth, Kaitlin Ellzy looked to have things back under control as she recorded the next two outs. After two walks, however, she gave way to Laura Coulter with the bases juiced. Tori Dubois provided a rude greeting to the new hurler, blasting a grand slam down the left field line to give the home team an 8-7 lead. Penn State added one more run before the end of the inning to cap a come-from-behind, 9-7, victory.
 
In game two, the Colonials generated the game's first run in the second inning. Taking advantage of a pair of free passes and a wild pitch, Lorusso and Miller pulled off a successful double-steal, and for the second time on the day, RMU had a 1-0 lead without recording a hit.
 
Miller delivered a two RBI single in the third, pushing McCartney and Higgins home to stretch the margin to 3-0. Bunner hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and Higgins doubled home the game's final score in the sixth to build the margin to 5-0. Ellzy went the distance in the second game, allowing just three hits to run her season record to 3-5.
 
Robert Morris is slated to open Northeast Conference play Friday, March 30, when it hosts reigning league champion Saint Francis in a Noon doubleheader at North Athletic Complex.