The Penn State New Kensington softball team saw its season come to an end Monday with a pair of losses in the double-elimination Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs in DuBois.
The Lions lost to East No. 1 seed Penn State Brandywine, 9-1, in the first game and were edged out by West No. 1 Penn State Alto in an elimination game.
PSNK finished the season 13-14 overall. The Lions went 11-11 in regular-season conference play.
Against Brandywine, the victors scored seven runs over the second and third innings to pull away for the five-inning triumph.
PSNK avoided a shutout with a run in the top of the fifth as Fox Chapel graduate Calle Zmenkowski singled and came around to score on a flyout off the bat of Riverview graduate Molly Collins.
The Lions and Mont Alto played to a scoreless tie through seven innings before PSNK took a 1-0 lead on an RBI off the bat of Zmenkowski that scored Auveonna Perkins.
Mont Alto came back with two in the bottom of the eighth to score the walk-off win.
Courtney Biswick (North Hills) went 3 for 3 for PSNK, while Zmenkowski tallied two hits.
Zmenkowski also got the start for the Lions and gave up five hits and two walks while striking out five in seven-plus innings of work. Of the two runs she gave up in the eighth, only one was earned.
PSNK started the playoffs May 1 with a 9-0 victory over Penn State Beaver which propelled the team to the final four.
