ERIE, Pa. – The No. 4 seed Penn State Altoona softball team opened the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament with a loss on Thursday morning, when the Lions were defeated 3-1 by No. 5 seed Pitt-Greensburg in day one action at Penn State Behrend.

Playing for the first time since April 27, Penn State Altoona (17-16) fell behind 3-0 through four-and-a-half innings. The Lions got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but Pitt-Greensburg (16-19) hung on for the win.

Penn State Altoona will play in an elimination game tomorrow, Friday, May 10, at 9 a.m. against No. 2 Pitt-Bradford. Meanwhile, Pitt-Greensburg moved on to face top seed Penn State Behrend later in the day Thursday.

Brooke Colledge (Everett, PA/Everett) and Hanna Lauck (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) combined to have four of Penn State Altoona's six hits. Colledge went 2-for-4 with a double and a run batted in, while Lauck was also 2-for-4.

Cameryn Feathers (Martinsburg, PA/Central) was 1-for-3 with a walk and Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) went 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Madalyn Maynard (Towanda, PA/Towanda) made the start in the pitching circle and suffered the loss, tossing two innings and yielding a pair of runs while recording one strikeout. Nau pitched five innings in relief, allowing one run and striking out three.

Pitt-Greensburg opened the scoring in the top of the second inning, when Brenna Altman's two-out RBI single to center put the Bobcats on the board. Greensburg added to its lead in the third, when Hunter Taylor led off with a double and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

The Bobcats used another two-out, run-scoring hit to boost their advantage to three runs in the top of the fifth. Makenzie Lang delivered an RBI single up the middle with two outs, and Pitt-Greensburg established a 3-0 lead.

Penn State Altoona scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to trim its deficit to two. Nau led off the frame with a base hit to right, then moved up to second on a throwing error during the play. After two outs, Colledge came up with an RBI double to left to make it 3-1.

The Lions retired Pitt-Greensburg in order in the sixth and seventh innings, keeping the Bobcats off the scoreboard and staying within striking distance.

Penn State Altoona threatened in the bottom of the sixth, when the Lions loaded the bases with no outs. Lauck started things off with a single up the middle, before walks drawn by Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County) and Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights) put three aboard. But Penn State Altoona was unable to come up with a key hit, and the Lions were forced to strand all three runners.

Penn State Altoona brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, after Feathers' two-out single to right kept the inning alive. But the Lions again came up emptyhanded and settled for the loss.