CLERMONT, Fla. – The Susquehanna softball team split a pair of games on Thursday, winning 4-3 in walk-off fashion over Alvernia before falling to No. 20 Augustana (Ill.) by a 5-1 score.

Against Alvernia, freshman Kelly Miller (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh against before senior Brianna Murphy (Hazlet, N.J./Mater Dei Prep) came through with the game-winning single to hand the Crusaders what was their fifth-straight win.

Murphy finished the game 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Freshman Heather Pearson (Alexandria, Va./Bishop Ireton) also had two hits and one RBI and starting pitcher Jamie Fesinstine (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) went the distance, tossing seven innings of three-run ball without a single walk.

SU jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead on Amanda Neveroski's (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) sacrifice fly to left field that plated Murphy.

Alvernia responded with a two-run second with both runs scoring on Aly Shilling's two-run homer to centerfield.

Susquehanna was able to tie the game in the fourth when Pearson doubled to left field to score pinch runner Cierra Omlor (Salem, N.J./Salem).

The teams remained locked at two until the top of the sixth when a Susquehanna fielding error allowed Alvernia to score and take a 4-3 lead.

The game headed into the bottom of the seventh where SU had its final chances to tie or win the game. With two outs, Miller doubled to left field to score pinch runner Leigh Ann Greenwald (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata) and in the very next at-bat, Murphy's single allowed Miller to score the game-winning run.

In the day's second game, SU could not get past the 20^th-ranked Vikings (10-0). The Crusaders (5-3) had just three hits in the game. Although Susquehanna pitcher Morgan Lewis (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) only surrendered seven hits to Augustana, the Vikings managed to push five runs across home plate.

Augustana led 1-0 after one inning of play but in the third, Neveroski's single scored Murphy, who had reached base on a one-out bunt single.

It stood 1-1 until the fourth when the Vikings broke out for three runs on four hits to take a 4-1 advantage. They added another run in the sixth and made quick work of SU in the seventh to end the game.

The Crusaders wrap-up their Florida trip with two games on Friday, beginning with a 9 a.m. contest against Rogers Williams, followed by a 1 p.m. game against Finlandia.