RALEIGH, N.C. – The Lehigh softball team opened the Wolfpack Classic with a pair of heartbreaking one-run losses Friday at Dail Softball Stadium. The Mountain Hawks dropped their first game of the day 7-6 to Loyola Chicago as the Ramblers scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Lehigh then battled ACC-member NC State to the last out, coming back from a 3-0 deficit before falling 3-2.
After coming into Friday’s action with just one home run on the season, Lehigh totaled three in the two games. First-year Megan Lodge led Lehigh with three hits on the day, including her first career home run in the sixth inning against the Wolfpack.
🤯 FULL extension by Lizzie Kern!
Watch: https://t.co/tv4DhORcC9@espn @PatriotLeague #PLTop3 #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/Dgo8H8qtoK
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) February 28, 2026
The losses drop Lehigh to 5-6 on the season.
Lehigh fell behind Loyola Chicago (8-9) 1-0 after one and tied the game in the second as junior Holly Lovett drew a bases loaded walk.
The Ramblers took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third before the Mountain Hawks used the long ball to take the lead.
Sophomore Kelly Fricker tied the game at 4-4 with a three-run home run in the top of the fourth. Senior Sydney Parlett followed with a two-run blast in the fifth to give the Mountain Hawks a 6-4 lead.
Loyola Chicago plated a run in the bottom of the sixth but Lehigh worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam to take its lead into the seventh inning.
Megan Piotrowski led off the bottom of the seventh for Loyola Chicago with a single and scored the tying run on a Liz Sedakis double. Two batters later, Avery Vander Woude singled home Sedakis with the winning run.
First-year Maddie Masiko made her first career start in the circle and allowed four runs on six hits over three innings. Junior Maddy Clark pitched the next two frames, allowing a run on two hits, with two strikeouts. First-year Addison Moorman pitched the final 1.1 innings and took the loss.
Lehigh finished with six hits, led by two from both Lodge and Parlett.
In game two of the day against NC State (10-7), sophomore Madison Finnerty got the ball in the circle. Finnerty limited the Wolfpack to three runs on four hits, with four strikeouts, but had to navigate through several jams after walking four batters and hitting three more.
Finnerty stranded the bases loaded in the first inning and kept NC State off the board through three innings.
Three singles, two hit batters and a walk allowed NC State to plate all three of its runs in the fourth inning.
Lola plates Duenas with our first run!
Watch: https://t.co/tv4DhORcC9@espn @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/c8sMf7RjfS
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) February 28, 2026
Senior Abbey Tabaka recorded Lehigh’s first hit with one out in the fifth inning, and after a wild pitch, first-year Lola Fasano singled home pinch runner Crysta Duenas with Lehigh’s first run.
Lodge crushed her first career home run to left field in the sixth to bring Lehigh within 3-2.
Walloped!
Watch: https://t.co/tv4DhORcC9@espn @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/LoqwGmdgtM
— Lehigh Softball (@Lehighsoftball) February 28, 2026
Tabaka was hit by a pitch leading off the seventh. A strikeout was followed by a Helen Woloshyn infield single, and a second strikeout was followed by a Peyton Sward single to load the bases. With Lehigh threatening, Wynne Gore struck out first-year Kyra Neiswender to end the game. Gore and NC State starter Rylee Wyman combined to strike out 12 Mountain Hawks on the day.
Woloshyn led Lehigh with two hits against NC State.
The Mountain Hawks continue play at the Wolfpack Classic on Saturday with games against Loyola Chicago (9:30 a.m.) and Toledo (12 p.m.).