COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Black Hills State softball split Saturday's doubleheader with UCCS, winning game one, 7-5 before dropping game two, 7-4.

The Yellow Jackets (3-5, 3-5 RMAC) played competitive softball all weekend against one of the top teams in the RMAC.

Crystal Amaral went 5-8 on the day with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored.

Amaral earned the win in game one in the circle, going all seven innings and striking out five.

Bell Luebken finished 4-7, scoring four runs and driving in two and Tyler Whitlock finished 3-6 with three RBI.

Shayla Tuschen went 1-3 in game one with an RBI double.

Game One (W, 7-5)
The Yellow Jackets got out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI double from Luebken, followed by a 2-run shot from Amaral.

UCCS got two back in the second to make it a 3-2 ballgame, but in the third, Tuschen hit an opposite field double, driving one in and extending the lead to 4-2 before a two-RBI single from Amaral in the fourth made it 6-2.

Whitlock hit an RBI single in the fifth to make it 7-2, before UCCS put up a 3-run sixth, making it 7-5.

From there, Amaral kept UCCS scoreless the rest of the way as the Yellow Jackets held on to win game one, 7-5.

Game Two (L, 7-4)
Down 2-0 in the third, the Yellow Jackets leaded the bases for Whitlock to drive one home with an RBI single to left, cutting the score to 2-1.

Tuschen struck out the side in the fourth before UCCS added one more in the fifth to stretch their lead to 3-1.

But in the bottom half of the fifth, the Yellow Jackets tied things up at 3-3 with another RBI single from Whitlock, followed by Taylor Dowden who worked a bases-loaded walk.

UCCS would go back on top 4-3 in the sixth, however, BHSU tied the game again in their half of the sixth on a Luebken RBI double to right.

A 2-run home run by the Mountain Lions in the top of the seventh helped UCCS take a 7-4 lead and hold on for the win.

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets are scheduled to host Adams State for doubleheaders on Saturday, March 12 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., and Sunday, March 13 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.