GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay softball team (19-11, 5-5) dropped a pair of games Saturday afternoon at Ben Garot Field to the league-leading Cleveland State Vikings (30-10, 10-1). The Phoenix fell 6-1 in the opener, and then lost 11-0 (in five innings) in the second meeting.

Cleveland State senior pitcher Amanda Marcenko was nearly unhittable on the mound for the Vikings. Marcenko pitched all 12 innings on the day, surrendering just seven hits and one run to improve to 24-10 on the year.

In game one, the Vikings got on the board first with sacrifice fly RBI by freshman Caila Ferro in the second inning. The Phoenix knotted things up in the fourth when senior Krissy Hanson (Arcadia, Wis.) drove in freshman Jessica Hrncar (Oakfield, Wis.) with a sac fly to left field.

Cleveland State responded with a big sixth inning, rallying for five runs on four hits, along with the help of two Phoenix errors.  Green Bay was unable to counter, as Marcenko held the Phoenix hitless in its final two at-bats.

Senior Katie Cooney (East Moline, Ill.) took the loss for Green Bay, pitching 6 1/3 innings and giving up five runs on nine hits. She moves to 5-6 on the year with the loss.

In round two, it was all Cleveland State. The Vikings jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, scoring at least one run in all five innings of play.

Marcenko allowed just three hits in the game for the Vikings, while the Green Bay trio of Lauren Beres (New Berlin, Wis.), Samantha Schmeltzer (Merrill, Wis.) and Andrea Pigeon (Sheboygan, Wis.) surrendered 14. Beres recorded the loss to move to 7-3 on the year.

Green Bay will host Cleveland State tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the final game of the three-game series.

--www.GreenBayPhoenix.com--