CRESSON, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona softball team made the short trip into Cambria County on Tuesday afternoon to face Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Mount Aloysius College in a doubleheader, and the Lions settled for a split with their nearby rival.

In game one, Mount Aloysius (15-12, 8-4 AMCC) scored a walk-off win, 1-0, by plating the game's only run in the bottom of the seventh. Penn State Altoona (20-12, 10-4 AMCC) responded with a seventh-inning rally of its own in game two, overcoming a two-run deficit with three in the seventh to prevail 3-2.

Game One: Mount Aloysius 1, Penn State Altoona 0

The Lions and Mounties battled through a pitching duel in the first game of the doubleheader, during which Penn State Altoona was held to just three hits. Mount Aloysius scored the game's only run in the bottom of the seventh, when the home team was aided by a pair of Lion errors and won on a walk-off.

Allison Beeman (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone), Alyssa Fisher (Lock Haven, PA/Central Mountain), and Jillian Taylor (Irvona, PA/Glendale) each had a hit for Penn State Altoona. Taylor also stole a base, and Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights) drew a walk.

Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) pitched a complete game and took a tough-luck loss for the Lions. In 6 1/3 innings of work, the right-hander scattered seven hits while allowing no walks or earned runs, and she struck out four Mount Aloysius batters.

While Penn State Altoona was unable to string together hits, the Lions managed to work out of jams throughout the game, including Nau and her team stranding two Mount Aloysius runners in the fifth and leaving the bases loaded with Mounties in the sixth.

But Mount Aloysius capitalized on a pair of Penn State Altoona errors in the bottom of the seventh. The leadoff batter reached on a fielding error, then moved up to second on a wild pitch. After a flyout, the winning run moved up to third base on a single, then scored on another error to give the Mounties a 1-0 victory.

Game Two: Penn State Altoona 3, Mount Aloysius 2

Mount Aloysius grabbed the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first, and the home team tacked on another run in the fourth to make it 2-0. But the Mounties saw their advantage evaporate in the top of the seventh, when Penn State Altoona awoke for three runs to surge into the lead and ultimately clinch the comeback victory.

Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County) was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Storm hit 2-for-2 with a walk, and Fisher finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

Madison Kennedy (Williamsburg, PA/Central) tossed a complete game to record her seventh win of the season in the circle. Across seven frames, she held the Mounties to two runs on five hits and two walks while having one strikeout.

Mount Aloysius made it 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Kendra Gardner's RBI groundout to third base put the home team on top. The Mounties increased their advantage to 2-0 in the fourth, thanks to Maya Capozzoli's run-scoring grounder to the pitcher.

But Penn State Altoona finally broke through for its first runs of the day in the top of the seventh inning to spoil Mount Aloysius' hopes for a doubleheader sweep. Kennedy and Carly Hutchinson (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) led off with back-to-back base hits to left, and Taylor got down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position for the Lions. Fisher followed that with a two-run single up the middle to tie the score, 2-2. One batter later, Hoppel's RBI infield hit gave Penn State Altoona its first lead of the day, 3-2.

Kennedy and the Lions retired the Mounties in order in the bottom of the seventh, and Penn State Altoona escaped with a come-from-behind win in game two.

Penn State Altoona softball plays its final AMCC games of the regular season on the road this Saturday, April 26, when the Lions will travel to Hamburg, N.Y., to face conference foe Hilbert College in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.