HAMILTON — Colgate softball entered Saturday's doubleheader needing to sweep the Army Black Knights to keep playoff hopes alive. After a Rachel Carney walk off double in a 4-3 game one victory, postseason aspirations rested on a penultimate rubber match where the Raiders would fall, 13-6. 

Carney followed up her game-winner with a career-high four hits in game two, where fellow fifth-year Adrienne Nardone also added a multi-hit performance.

Game 1: Colgate 4, Army 3
After falling behind early, the Raiders chipped away at the three-run deficit when Niamh Dougherty doubled down the right field line to score Nardone. 

Misken struck out two Black Knights in the third, setting the stage for Kiley Shelton to knot the score when she launched a two-run shot over the right field wall. With the homer, she set a new first-year record for most RBIs in a season with 38 on the year. 

With two outs and the winning run on base in the top of the seventh, Misken earned a clutch strike out that sent the game to extra innings.

Shelton nearly scored the game-winning run in the eighth, but she was thrown out from center field to force a ninth frame. 

Nora Megenity started a rally when she sent a rocket to third that forced an error and put the winning run aboard with no outs. Alexis Romero advanced Megenity into scoring position with a single, and Carney's heroics kept the Raiders' playoff hopes alive with a walk-off double to win game one. 

Game 2: Colgate 13, Army 6
The Black Knights took control early in game two with a pair of runs in the opening stanza. The visitors would tack on two more in the third before Colgate's bats came to life in the fourth. 

In her final game on Eaton Street, Kara Fusco launched a two-run double into right field that pumped life into the Raiders with three innings to play. 

However, it was as close as Colgate would get with Army scoring six runs across the fifth and six frames to take control. 

Down 10 runs, the Raiders did not roll over with fifth-year Adrienne Nardone lifting her sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth. Carney would go on to tally her second and third RBIs of the day with a single in the seventh, and Nardone doubled her home two batters later. 

Colgate ends its 2024 campaign with a 22-28 mark, including an 8-10 record in Patriot League play.