BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Long Island University softball team opened Northeast Conference play by splitting a doubleheader against Fairleigh Dickinson University on Saturday, winning the first game 10-2 in six innings before falling 11-2 to the Knights in the nightcap. 

After FDU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the first game on Saturday, LIU quickly responded with a two-RBI single by freshman Hannah Burnett in the bottom of the same inning, giving the Sharks a lead they would not relinquish.  

LIU added two more runs when senior Priscilla Gillies and junior Gigi Clavel scored off a Knight error in the bottom of the second inning and three runs in the bottom of the third, when sophomore Kaylee Clarkson delivered an RBI double before sophomore Jaedyn Lincoln added two more runs with a two-run homer in the same inning.  

Lincoln stretched the lead to 8-1 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning before the Knights scratched another run in the top of the sixth; however, a two-run home run by senior Alyssa Polemeni gave the Sharks a 10-2 advantage, ending the game in the sixth inning. 

Lincoln led LIU in hits (2) and RBI (3) in the win. Polemeni and Burnett were close behind with two RBI apiece. Sophomore Lily Hinkle and Polemeni both scored two runs in the win. 

LIU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in the nightcap, as Hinkle scored off an FDU error. However, the lead was short-lived, as the Knights scored a total of 11 runs across the second and third innings to take the lead, eventually winning the game 11-2 after the Sharks scored another run in the bottom off the fourth on an RBI double by Hinkle, which sent home Lincoln. 

The Sharks and Knights return for the rubber match Sunday at noon at the LIU Softball Complex in Brooklyn.