HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Elizabethtown College softball team had a chance to advance to Saturday's Landmark Conference Tournament. All the Blue Jays needed to do was get a win at Juniata on Thursday in the conference's play-in game in order to continue on. The Eagles got four runs early and held off Etown, 4-1. Brinley Schmidt had three hits in the game and Paige Phillips drove in the Jays' only run.

Juniata (8-17) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after the first inning, and in the end, proved to be enough for starting pitcher Cate Baran.

Elizabethtown (3-22) stayed in the game behind the arm of Phillips, who came on for 5.2 innings of relief. Phillips allowed just two hits and no runs, but the Blue Jays had trouble getting runners home.

Etown was able to get a runner into scoring position and Phillips smacked her team-leading ninth double to left center that scored Amelia Lark. That made it 4-1 in the fourth inning.

The Jays had another scoring chance in the sixth after Kaitlyn Witmer's single moved Lark down to third with no outs. Baran got out of inning unscathed, striking out two of her game-high 10 and finishing it off with a pop out.

Schmidt's third hit of the game in the seventh kept Elizabethtown alive as they were down to their final out. Again, Baran did not allow any sort of Blue Jays' rally, ending the game with a ground out to third and helping Juniata advance to Saturday's pod at Moravian.

Schmidt finished 3-for-4 at the plate while Lark also had a multi-hit effort with a pair. Phillips' RBI was her ninth of the season, tied for the most on the team. She also recorded four strikeouts in the circle for Etown.