BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Despite allowing only one earned run all afternoon, the Ursinus College softball team was still relegated to a sweep at the hands of Moravian in Thursday afternoon's hard-fought, low-scoring doubleheader. The Greyhounds scored a late run to eke out a 2-1 decision in Game One before holding the Bears to just two hits en route to a 2-0 shutout in the nightcap.

Moravian (13-3), ranked No. 19 in this week's NFCA Division III poll, pitched just a little bit better than Ursinus (6-8) in a twin bill that featured only 16 hits between the two squads. Josie Novak and Amanda Carisone came in with a combined ERA of 2.62 and showed why with a pair of dominant complete-game efforts that slightly outshone matching gems from the Bear duo of sophomore Kaitlyn Willis and senior Zoe Heinke.

Novak (7-1) struck out 11 in the opener, but needed a late run from her offense and a last-inning escape to hold off the scrappy Bears. With the teams knotted at 1 after freshman Gabrielle Manto's fifth-inning sacrifice fly, Madison Shaneberger delivered a two-out single up the middle to bring around the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth.

Not ready to concede defeat, Ursinus got back-to-back singles from freshmen Kayla Quinn and Sammi Donato with two outs in the seventh, putting the tying run on second. But Novak got Manto to ground out to end the threat as the Greyhounds survived.

Willis pitched six strong innings for the Bears, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits with a walk and a strikeout, while Quinn and Donato each finished 2-for-3 at the dish.

The nightcap was a similarly fast-paced affair, one in which Carisone limited Ursinus to just two hits. Moravian did all of its damage in the second, taking advantage of a critical error to provide Carisone all the cushion she needed.

With two outs and nobody on, a fielding miscue allowed the inning to continue and, two batters later, Julia DeMarco doubled down the right field line to plate the game's lone runs. Despite Heinke's impressive performance, the Bears were unable to get a runner past second the rest of the way as the Greyhounds stretched their winning streak in the series to nine.

Heinke (1-3) gave up four hits with a walk and a strikeout in six stellar frames for the Bears. Sophomore Rachel Hyman and Quinn recorded the only hits for Ursinus.

Carisone (6-2) struck out five and walked two for Moravian.

Though the box scores show a sweep, the Bears were impressive in holding a Moravian team that came in hitting .330 as a team to just eight hits on the day. The Greyhounds returned eight starters from a squad that went 38-8 and reached an NCAA Tournament Super Regional a year ago.

Ursinus will open Centennial Conference play on Saturday, March 26 with a pair of games against Dickinson at Snell Field.