BUFFALO, N.Y. – After a shaky start to its day, the Penn State Altoona softball team bounced back to win Monday's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament first round best-of-three series over Medaille College at D'Youville's Dobson Field.

Four seed Medaille (9-10) capitalized on Penn State Altoona miscues in game one to prevail 8-2. But the fifth-seeded Lions (11-11-1) responded by staying alive with a 10-7 win in game two, then earning an 11-3 run rule victory in game three to take the series.

"Really proud of the way our team was resilient and fought back to win this series," said Penn State Altoona head coach Joe Merilli. "I think we were a bit rusty and shook that off and played well in games two and three."

Penn State Altoona advances to the AMCC Tournament semifinal round this Wednesday, May 12, when the Lions will face top seed Penn State Behrend in a best-of-three series in Erie beginning at 12:00 p.m.

Game One: Medaille 8, Penn State Altoona 2

The Lions were unable to overcome committing eight errors, while the bats produced just two runs on four hits.

Olivia Miller (West Newton, PA/Yough) went 2-for-3 with one run batted in. Her total of two hits propelled her to the 100-hit mark for her collegiate career, becoming the 16th player in program history to reach the milestone.

Olivia Smith (Martinsburg, PA/Central) went 1-for-4 with a run scored, and Casey Reese (Cresson, PA/Penn Cambria) was 1-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.

In the circle, Reese pitched a complete game for Penn State Altoona. Over six innings, she yielded four earned runs while striking out two batters.

Medaille grabbed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Abbigail Doherty's sacrifice fly opened the scoring, and Shay Sommer and Kylie Lyons reached on back-to-back errors while driving in runs.

Penn State Altoona got on the board in the top of the third inning, when Miller's RBI single up the middle cut the Mavericks' lead to 3-1.

Medaille increased its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth, when April Chambers scored on an error and Doherty drove in a run with her single to third. Audra Marley's RBI single in the bottom of the fifth made it 6-1.

The Lions plated their second and final run of the game in the top of the sixth. Smith led off with a base hit, and Reese tripled down the left field line in the next at-bat to score her, making it 6-2.

But Medaille padded its lead with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Breanna Zientara's RBI single brought one run home, and Calie Amerine scored on a passed ball later in the frame to give the home team an 8-2 advantage.

Game Two: Penn State Altoona 10, Medaille 7

Penn State Altoona got its offense back on track in game two, as the Lion hitters led the way in a bounce-back win that forced a third game of the series.

Jayde Burge (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Smith went 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk. Brooke Bollman (Bedford, PA/Bedford) was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk.

Reese was 1-for-2 with a double, three walks, two RBI, and two runs scored. Kristen Hewitt (Coalport, PA/Glendale) was also 1-for-2 to go along with three walks, three runs scored, one RBI, and one stolen base.

Katie College (Davidsville, PA/Conemaugh Township) was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a walk, and Makenzie Lukehart (Utahville, PA/Glendale) was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a walk.

Lukehart started at pitcher in game two and picked up her second win of the season, allowing four earned runs in six innings while recording one strikeout. Reese tossed the seventh inning in relief.

Penn State Altoona jumped out to a 6-0 lead through four-and-a-half innings.

In the top of the first, Smith's RBI triple to left put the Lions on the scoreboard. In the second, Hewitt's RBI single to right-center and Lukehart's two-run base hit extended Penn State Altoona's lead to 4-0. Burge's RBI single down the left field line in the third inning made it 5-0, and her run-scoring single through the left side in the top half of the fifth increased her team's advantage to six.

Medaille scored its first run in the bottom of the fifth on Gabrielle Presutti's RBI triple to left.

But Penn State Altoona answered with two more runs in the visitors' half of the sixth. College drove in one run with her double to left, and Reese scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a walk earlier in the inning to make it 8-1.

The Mavericks got four runs across in the bottom of the sixth to trim Penn State Altoona's lead to three. Zientara scored on an error for the Mavericks' first run of the inning, and a two-run single from Melanie Sweeney and RBI groundout by Presutti made it 8-5.

The Lions added some insurance in the top of the seventh. Hewitt and Smith each walked, then scored on Reese's two-run double to right-center that extended Penn State Altoona's lead to 10-5.

Medaille attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, narrowing its deficit to three runs again after Zientara scored on a passed ball and Doherty stole home. But with two runners on and the tying run at the plate with two outs, Reese got a groundout to escape any further damage and clinch the game two victory.

Game Three: Penn State Altoona 11, Medaille 3 (Final/6 innings)

The Lions continued their momentum from game two and produced their best performance of the day, recording a run rule win to advance to the next round of the AMCC Tournament.

Reese made her second start and third appearance of the day in the circle, earning her ninth win of the season. In six innings, the right-hander limited Medaille to just one earned run. With the bat, Reese went 1-for-1 while recording three RBI and drawing three walks.

Shannon Detwiler (Martinsburg, PA/Central) went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored, and Burge was also 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, one RBI, and one stolen base.

Lukehart also hit 2-for-4 with one run scored, and Smith was 1-for-2 with a triple, two runs scored, two walks, and one RBI.

Medaille started off strong, getting three runs across in the bottom of the first inning. Zientara scored on a fielder's choice for her team's first run, and Sommer's RBI double made it 2-0. After that, an error allowed Sommer to score to give the home team a three-run advantage by the end of the first.

But Penn State Altoona put together a three-run inning of its own in the third. Miller's sacrifice fly to center brought home Burge for the Lions' first run, and Smith's RBI triple to center and Reese's RBI single through the right side knotted the score 3-3.

The Lions kept rolling in the fourth, scoring three more runs to leap ahead. Burge's RBI double to left put Penn State Altoona on top, and later in the frame, Burge scored on a passed ball and Hewitt came home on Reese's bases-loaded walk to make it 6-3.

Penn State Altoona put an exclamation point on things by scoring five more runs in the sixth. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks drawn by Reese and Madison Lucas (Philipsburg, PA/Philipsburg-Osceola) scored Lukehart and Miller, and Bollman was hit by a pitch with the bases still loaded to advance Smith to home. Detwiler's fielder's choice grounder drove in another run, and a Medaille error later allowed her to score, increasing the Lions' lead to 11-3.

Reese and the Lions prevented Medaille from scoring in the bottom of the sixth, maintaining the eight-run advantage needed to end the game early via the eight-run rule.