Keeping hope alive.
 

The Lincoln University softball team kept their hopes of reaching the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament alive with a split against Shaw University.
 

GAME ONE: SHAW 1, LINCOLN 0

An unearned run was the lone offense for either team as Shaw posted the game one victory.
 

The Bears got a one-out infield single in the fourth inning, and the runner moved to third on a two-base throwing error. An out later, a single brought home the only run.
 

Freshman Tia Brown (Newark, N.Y./Newark) finished with six strikeouts in seven innings of work, allowing just three hits and the unearned run.
 

Freshmen Jaelynn Barrios (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) and Jarae Turner each had a hit for the Lions.
 

GAME TWO: LINCOLN 10, SHAW 1

In a must-win game, the Lincoln bats came alive in the nightcap – scoring in all four at-bats – with the nine-run victory.
 

Shaw took the lead with a run in the first, but the Lions exploded with two outs in the bottom half of the innings. Turner and Brown had back-to-back doubles to knot the score at one, then Brown gave the Lions the lead moving to third and scoring on a pair of wild pitches.
 

Junior Amaya Townsend (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) drew a walk and freshman Cate Liskey (Richland, Pa./Eastern Lebanon ) singled, then both came home on a freshman Cailyn Dove (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior) double.
 

Lincoln put another two-out, four-spot in the second inning. Turner scored freshman MacKienzee Rasheed (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills), who singled and stole second. Back-to-back doubles by Brown and Townsend scored two more runs. Townsend's RBI hit was her 21st RBI of the season, tying the school's single-season D2 record. She would come around to score on an error.
 

A sacrifice fly by Rasheed brought home a run in the third and an RBI single by Dove capped the scoring in the fourth.
 

Brown allowed one earned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings to secure the victory.
 

Lincoln now awaits the results from a pair of Johnson C. Smith doubleheaders. The Lions hold the tiebreaker thus the Golden Bulls must win three of the four games.
 

The Lions will play a single 5 p.m. Wednesday, hosting Goldey Beacom.