Junior Ashley Bognar hit her first collegiate triple Saturday.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Junior Ashley Bognar (Tonawanda, N.Y.) hit her first collegiate triple to help the Niagara University softball team win its season opener with a 4-1 victory over Cornell University Friday afternoon in the George Mason Patriot Invitational.

Trailing 1-0 in the going into the third inning, junior Lisa Baker (West Seneca, N.Y.) singled, moved to second on freshman Jennifer Yee’s (North Delta, B.C.) single, took third on a single by sophomore Tory Healy (Las Vegas, Nev.) and then junior Nicole Sum (Burnaby, B.C.) hit a two-run single to score Baker and Yee.

After a strikeout, Bogner hit a two-run triple to bring home Healy and Sum.

Sophomore Tiffany McCrory (Albuquerque, N.M.) got the win on the mound, throwing seven innings and allowing four hits and four runs while striking out five. The right-hander also got the Purple Eagles out of a jam, picking up her fifth strikeout in sixth inning when the Big Red had bases loaded with two outs.

Niagara returns to action Sunday when it plays Cornell at 9 a.m. and then Mount St. Mary’s at 11 a.m.