HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – The Drew University softball team lost a pair of close games at Centenary University on Thursday in non-conference action.
 
The Cyclones (23-11) claimed the opener 3-1 before handing the Rangers a 9-7 setback in a topsy-turnover nightcap which featured three lead changes.
 
In the first game, junior Teagan Bradley started in the circle and blanked Centenary over the first three innings. The Cyclones broke through with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth before the Rangers got on the scoreboard with one in the sixth. Senior Molly O'Brien walked, stole second, and eventually scored on a ground ball from junior Fran O'Kleasky.
 
Drew (16-16) had the tying run at the plate in the seventh, when junior Delaney O'Donoghue led off with a single. But starting pitcher Jaelynn Miller recorded three straight outs to end the game.
 
O'Donoghue finished the game 2-for-3 to lead the Rangers at the plate. Bradley tossed five innings before freshman Allie Porbansky pitched a scoreless sixth.
 
The Rangers struck first in the second game, scoring once in the top of the first on an RBI-single from junior MacKenzie Pisani. But Centenary answered with two runs in each of the next two innings to go up 4-1.
 
Drew came back with six runs on five hits and one error in the fourth to assume a 7-4 lead. The inning included an RBI-triple from sophomore Josie Di Troia, a run-scoring double from freshman Daylin Evans Lasick, and a go-ahead, two-run double from O'Brien.
 
The Cyclones tied it with a three-run sixth, but the Rangers were poised to go back in front when they loaded the bases in the sixth. But Centenary escaped without allowing a run before scoring a pair of go-ahead runs in the bottom of the inning.
 
Di Troia and O'Brien each cracked a pair of hits in the second game while junior Tyler Saunders pitched the first five innings. Porbansky also came on to throw the final inning for Drew in the nightcap.  
 
The Rangers return to Landmark Conference action on Saturday, when they visit Elizabethtown College in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.