LYNCHBURG, Va. --  Sam Merino and Megan Forbes each picked up three hits in a pair of games as the Fairfield University softball team opened up play at the Liberty Invitational. The Stags ended the day with a pair of setbacks, falling to Yale University by a 14-6 score and to East Carolina by a 4-3 count.

                Merino started the Stags' day off with a base hit and ended up scoring the team's first run off Mikayla Rubin's RBI single to center field. Fairfield doubled its lead with a run in the second inning after Madison Robicheau laced a single right field that scored Haley Updegraff.

                Yale found its footing in the bottom of the second inning with four runs and added two more runs in the third frame to take command at 6-2. Fairfield worked its way back into the game with an RBI double from Merino and a home run from Mikayla Rubin and Megan Forbes. Despite the offensive showcase, Fairfield still trailed the Bulldogs as Yale managed a four-run fourth inning and a four-run sixth inning.

                In the second game, East Carolina scored first with a single run in the third inning but Fairfield tied the game when it scratched a run across the plate in its half of the fourth inning. Tahlia Brown brought home the tying run with a base hit to left center field, scoring Kaitlin Hoffman to make the score 1-1.

                East Carolina broke the tie with a three-run fifth inning with two of those runs coming home off Fairfield errors. The Stags battled back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning as Forbes drove home both runs with a home run that cleared the left field fence. Neither team managed another run the rest of the way resulting in the East Carolina victory.

                The Stags will continue its run in the Liberty Invitational with a single game on Saturday, taking on Elon University at 11 am.