PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Purchase College softball team was defeated in a pair of Skyline Conference matchups Sunday afternoon, falling to the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College-Long Island by the scores of 16-2 and 11-3.

With the losses, the Panthers dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in Skyline play. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles moved to 4-0 and 3-0 respectively.

St. Joseph's-Long Island started game one with three runs in the first and two in the second, before blowing it wide open with eight runs in the third frame. The guests eventually pushed the margin to 16-0 in the fifth inning.

The Panthers kept playing though and were finally rewarded with their first runs of the year in the bottom of the fifth. Alexandria Perez (JR/Bronx, NY) walked to start the inning and advanced to second base two batters later on a groundout.

With two outs, senior captain Kelly Agostini (Centereach, NY) stepped to the plate and smacked a hard-hit ball to left field, allowing Perez to score. One batter later, Hannah Cronin (FR/Granby, CT) did the same thing, with Agostini advancing to third before scoring on a throwing error.

Cronin led the game one effort with two hits, while Jaiya Hewitt (JR/Kingston, NY) reached base twice with a pair of walks.

Agostini was tagged with the loss, as she finished with two strikeouts over five innings. Of the 16 runs the Golden Eagles scored, only four were earned as errors killed the Panthers in the matchup.

While game two ended with the same result as game one – a win for the guests – Purchase played much better this time around and managed to be the team who struck first this time.

After a single from Perez led off the bottom of the first inning, it was Brianna Palermo (SO/Hyde Park, NY) who provided the highlight of the day with an inside-the-park home run.

Palermo, in her first-career home at bat, drilled a laser into right field that got behind the St. Joseph's outfield, which allowed her to score with relative ease.

With the inside-the-park homer, the Panthers grabbed their first lead of the season at 2-0.

The advantage was short lived though, as the guests scored four in the second inning and three in the fourth. But that didn't stop the Panthers from adding another run of their own a few innings later.

In the bottom of the fifth, Hewitt led off with a single, before moving to second on a fielder's choice. She then stole third base and scored the Panthers' third run of the game off an RBI-ground out from Palermo.

Purchase finished game two with seven hits, a season-high so far. Perez and Jade D'Errico (FR/Wantagh, NY) each tallied two hits apiece. Palermo finished with the homer, one run and all three RBIs.

Up next for the Panthers is another Skyline Conference home doubleheader, as they host Mount Saint Mary College on March 27th. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. and you can follow along with Live Stats.