BOCA RATON, Fla. - Lynn University's softball team had gone 17 games without a home run this season but used four home runs to take a doubleheader series against Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday afternoon.  Devin Kochergen smashed two long balls and Kaci Vassalo added another in an 11-8 game one victory before Bianca Savulak went deep to help the Fighting Knights win 8-3 in game two.  Lynn improves to 13-7 overall.

Danielle McNeill served as the catalyst for the Blue & White offense all day, going 5-for-6 with three runs scored, three runs batted in, one walk and two hit by pitch.  After leading off the first with a line drive shot off the pitchers mitt, she was able to trot around the bases when Kochergen launched a two-run home run to left center field to give LU a 2-0 lead.

 

Palm Beach Atlantic (8-12) responded with a run in the second but a six-run fourth inning put the Fighting Knights on the path to victory.    McNeill drove home the first two runs with a single over the leaping hands of second baseman Theresa Butler, plating Kasey Murray and Jasmine Campos.  Savulak was hit with the ensuing next pitch and Kochergen went yard for the second time with a first-pitch blast to dead center field.

 

The fireworks did not end there as Vassalo followed with solo home run over the right center field fence, making it an 8-1 game.  Lynn scored all six runs with two outs.

 

Palm Beach Atlantic did not relent, though, scoring twice in the fifth and then tying the game in the sixth with a five run inning.  Lauren Powell hit the Sailfish's only home run of the day, a two-run shot to right center field.

 

Kochergen and Vassallo keyed Lynn in the home half of the sixth, though, with back-to-back singles to start the frame.  Anne Marie Van Casteren put LU ahead for good with a sacrifice fly and Christine Carvatta and McNeill added insurance runs to secure the victory.

 

Missy Montgomery earned the complete-game win in the circle.  She allowed just four hits through the first four innings but surrendered nine hits in the last three.

 

The Sailfish capitalized on a pair of walks in the first inning of game two to grab a 2-0 lead following a two-run single from Lindsey Johnson.  Johnson would account for all of PBA's runs as she added a RBI single in the seventh.

 

Lynn, though, took advantage of a huge error by Palm Beach Atlantic in the fourth to score six unearned runs.  In the midst of the inning, McNeill added a two-run single and Savulak let loose a two-run home run.

 

Murray helped her own cause in the fifth with a RBI double before later scoring on a Carvatta slap single down the first base line.  In the circle, Murray overcame six walks but allowed just five hits and struck out five batters for her eighth win.

 

Lynn returns to action on Tuesday, March 5, when they participate in a round-robin tournament in Clermont, Fla.  Fans can follow the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @LUKnights on Twitter and Instagram.