Heading into Sunday's game against Catasauqua, the Salisbury softball team could have argued it should have still been unbeaten in the Colonial League. But a couple of one-run losses throughout the week halted any thought of that.

Last week's battle against Northwestern may have been the Falcons toughest defeat of the young season.

After erasing a one-run deficit in the top half of the seventh inning on Melissa Kuglers' sacrifice fly, Northwestern wasted little time in responding. In the first at-bat of the bottom half of the frame, Kaitlyn Bowers blasted a walk-off homerun to lift the Tigers (5-3 overall, 4-2 in Colonial League) to an 8-7 win on Friday at Northwestern High School.

The Falcons (3-4 overall, 3-3 in Colonial League) then fell to the Rough Riders on Sunday, 12-2, marking their second consecutive loss. Salisbury's other loss in conference came to the hands of Notre Dame (Green Pond), 6-5, last Wednesday.

"It's always heartbreaking to end on a walk-off homerun," head coach Ken Choquette said. "I love the fact that when we're down, we keep fighting back. And that's what the team has always been doing.

"They don't let themselves down. They keep on fighting back. We just have to concentrate on making less mental errors and tightening the defense down."

Northwestern took an early 6-2 lead in part to five runs in the second. Claire O'Dea's walk with the bases loaded scored Jessica Badman to get the Tigers' scoring effort started.

Sunny Greenberg then blasted a deep double to left field, bringing home Lydia Danner, Brooke Wehr and O'Dea to push Northwestern's advantage to 5-2. Ellen Marie Smith's RBI-triple made it 6-2 moments later.

But the Falcons dug deep in the top half of the third with their backs against the wall to tie the game at six.

Anna Bishop, who went 4-for-4 at the plate, began the third with a double to right field. Two batters later, Meghan Williams' single brought home Bishop. Lil Crouthamel then recorded the second of her three hits moments later to score Williams. Crouthamel and Rachel Costantini also added runs on Tiger errors in the frame.

"We fought back, but it just wasn't enough today," Choquette said. "We have a very young team. There are seven new members on the varsity team and five freshmen. They are learning the game."

Northwestern briefly regained the lead in the fourth at 7-6 following Greenberg's RBI-groundout.

Laura Costello pitched six innings for Salisbury, allowing eight runs on 11 hits. She walked four batters and struck out three Tigers.

"Laura was throwing well in the circle, but they were getting some good hits," Choquette said. "We had a couple of mental mistakes, and we let them get a lead that we couldn't get back from."

Results from Monday's game against Bangor were not available at time of press. The Falcons travel to Southern Lehigh on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. start.