WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University softball team faced Juniata College Monday afternoon where the Cardinals swept the Eagles 1-0 and 4-1, leading to the team's eighth-consecutive Landmark Conference opponent win for the first time in program history.

Catholic totaled five runs on nine hits from six batters including four doubles on the day. The Cardinal's pitching allowed only a single run to cross the plate on seven hits in fourteen innings of play where both Katie Hurd and Allie Lajeunesse threw complete games.

Catholic 1, Juniata 0

The scoreboard remained untouched until the bottom of the third inning when Catholic would score their only run for game one. A passed ball allowed right fielder Taylor Forgen to reach first base where she was advanced into scoring position by second baseman Bella Ronca's sacrifice bunt. 

A pair of walks from center fielder Makayla Czan and Hurd loaded the bases for the Cardinals. Shortstop Giselle Diaz was hit by a pitch which advanced Forgen home for the unearned winning run. 

Catholic's strong defense and pitching would not allow for Juniata's three hits to convert to runs. Despite doubles from Hurd and catcher Sammy Phillips and a single by first baseman Juliet Lodes throughout the final four innings, Catholic was unable to add on to their lead. 

With one walk, one strikeout, three hits and zero runs scored, Hurd improved to 4-0 in the circle. She boasts a 0.50 earned-run average for the Cardinals. 

Catholic 4, Juniata 1

The Eagles scored their single run for the day to get a jump on the Cards at the top of the first. A single, a Juniata batter hit by a pitch and a throwing error allowed for the run to cross the plate unearned. Lajeunesse got out of the inning leaving three opponent runners unscored. 

Catholic answered back at the bottom of the first when Czan doubled down the right field line and took advantage of a passed ball to end up on third base. Hurd's sacrifice fly to right field allowed Czan to tag up and make it home easy, tying the score 1-1 moving into the second. 

The rest of the action came at the bottom of the third where Ronca started off with a walk and was moved to second from Czan's sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch let Ronca advance to third and was driven home by Hurd's RBI-single to right center. Diaz was next to reach first as a result of a throwing error by Juniata's defense. Phillips blasted a double to left center, putting the Cardinals in the lead 4-1 heading into the fourth. 

Catholic recorded one more hit and left two runners on base by the end bottom of the sixth. They did not need their final at-bat once Lajeunesse closed the door on Juniata with two ground outs and one looking-strikeout. She gave up four hits and allowed only one run to cross the plate with no errors, no walks and four strikeouts. Lajeunesse improves to 3-0 with a 0.89 earned-run average. 

Catholic hits the road to face reigning Landmark Conference champions Moravian on Saturday, April 10 beginning at 1 p.m.