Box Score (Moravian) | Box Score (Susquehanna)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The University of Scranton softball team saw their 2016 season come to an end on Saturday afternoon, as the Royals dropped two games to get eliminated from the 2016 Landmark Conference Championship.

Scranton first lost the the opening game of the tournament to top-seeded Moravian, 8-1, then dropped a heartbreaker to second-seeded Susquehanna in an elimination contest, 4-3.

With the results, Scranton ended the season with a 20-16 record.

In the first game of the day, host Moravian raced out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, as Scranton scored their lone run of the contest in the top of the fifth inning on a solo home run by sophomore Morgan Rentzheimer (Laurys Station, Pa./Parkland).

Facing elimination in the final game of the day against Susquehanna, Scranton got off to a great start, opening a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning on the Crusaders.

In the frame, freshman Molly Hampsey (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) scored the game's first run on a Susquehanna error, then junior Kaitlin O'Sullivan (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) smacked an two-RBI double with two outs to give the Royals the three-run edge.

But, Susquehanna gradually came back, scoring a run in the bottom of the third, then another in the bottom of the fourth to slice the Royal lead down to 3-2 entering the sixth inning.

With runners on second and third and two away in the bottom of that inning, the Crusaders delivered what turned out to be the game-winning hit on a two-RBI single, taking their first lead of the day at 4-3 entering the seventh.

There, Scranton was able to get a runner on with two outs, but that was all they could muster, as Susquehanna came-from-behind in the final game of the day to eliminate the Royals.

Despite suffering today's set-back's, it was a successful season for the Royals.

The team not only reached the 20-win plateau for the first since the 2012 season, they also reached the Landmark Conference Championship for the first time since that 2012 campaign.

Also, junior Shannon Stricker (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell Egan) won the Landmark Conference's Player of the Year award earlier this week, becoming the first Royal to win the award outright in program history.

--ROYALS--