COLUMBUS, Ga. (3/9/13) – For the second-straight day to start the season, the Kean University softball team hung tough with a ranked opponent in the first game and took care of business in the second at the Leadoff Classic in Georgia. The Cougars fell to No. 4 Emory University 4-0 before topping Alma College 5-3 in the nightcap.

Sophomore hurler Courtney Yard was the heroine for the Cougars. She pitched all but two outs of her team's 14 innings on Saturday, allowing just three earned runs while striking out 14. The Stockton, N.J. native held opponents to a .152 batting average and walked three.

Yard kept Kean in the game throughout the matchup with the fourth-ranked Eagles; the score was 1-0 off an unearned run until the tournament hosts earned some breathing room with a three-run top of the seventh. They would hold on to win though Kean did manage four hits in the contest.

In the day's second game, the Cougars drew first blood when Kelsey Hannan led off with a single, Katie Schuh (pictured left) walked and Sandra Binkiewicz knocked them both in with a single to centerfield. Kelly Moorehead drove in another run with an RBI groundout to give Kean a 3-0 lead after three.

Schuh started the other Kean rally with a single to right in the fifth. The Cougars would go on to load the bases; Jill Martin drove in a run with a walk and Yard helped her own cause with a sacrifice fly to cap the Kean scoring. The Cougars had a three-run hiccup in the sixth but Yard came back to the circle to douse the flames and earn her first victory of the year.

Kean will be back for the final day in Georgia beginning Sunday at 10 a.m. against Christopher Newport University.