NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — The LIU softball  team traveled up to Merrimack on Saturday afternoon to take on the Warriors in the first two games of its three game set. 

Merrimack took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning but the Sharks' bats came alive in the fourth inning. After a couple of walks and a fielders choice, Kaylee Clarkson crushed a grand slam over the left field fence to give LIU the lead. 

Merrimack would respond in the run in the bottom half of the inning but LIU kept pouring it on in the fifth and scored four more runs after an Alyssa Polemeni double and Jazmine Cuffie sacrifice fly.  8-2 would be the final score as Lindsey Cowans earned her 17th win of the season and struck out seven. 

Game two was more a pitchers' duel as only five runs were scored in eight innings. 

LIU struck first on a Devon Medina single in the second but in the third Merrimack would take the lead with two runs of its own. However, after the third inning, Alyssa O'Donnell was nails in the circle, only allowing four more base runners for the rest of the game. 

The Warriors took their 2-1 lead all the way into the seventh until the Sharks rallied with two outs. Lily Hinkle would beat out a single then score on the next at bat thanks to a Merrimack error. The game was tied at two a piece until a Delaney Carnell pinch hit, two-out single set the table for LIU. Mari Narvaiz would reach on an error, moving pinch runner Nyae' Dick to second. The next at bat Dallas Andrews would continue her stretch of clutch hitting and drive in the game-winning run on a single up the middle. 

O'Donnell would shut down Merrimack in the bottom half of the inning, earning her ninth win of the year and striking out eight. 

The Sharks return to the field on Saturday when they host Le Moyne for Alumni Day in Brooklyn.