March 8, 2010

Box Score

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Corinna Sternthal's suicide squeeze with Clarion down a run and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning ended up clearing the bases and giving the Golden Eagles their first win of the season 7-5 against Chestnut Hill in collegiate softball action Monday in Kissimmee, Fla., at the Rebel Games.

Second baseman Katie Baun then preserved the win for the Golden Eagles (1-3) when she made a diving catch in short rightfield for the game's final out after Chestnut Hill had loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

"Katie made a great catch," Clarion's interim head coach Nicole Banner, who picked up her first win as a collegiate coach, said. "The players really played well in the game and battled to the end."

The win over Chestnut Hill helped the Golden Eagles earn a split of a pair of games Monday, as Clarion fell 8-3 earlier in the day to Seton Hill.

But back to the Chestnut Hill game, Clarion trailed 5-3 going to the seventh but immediately got something going when Kacie Nemeth and Randi Pace led off the inning with back-to-back singles. For Pace it was her fourth hit in four at bats.

After Rebecca Lynch grounded into a fielder's choice that erased Nemeth at third, Baun singled to load the bases, and Rachelle Yarger, who was 3-for-4 in the game, singled home Pace cutting Chestnut Hill's lead to 5-4. Banner then called for a suicide squeeze, and it worked beyond her wildest expectations, as Lynch scored the tying run and two Chestnut Hill errors allowed Baun and Yarger to also cross the dish.

Chestnut Hill tried to rally in the bottom of the inning loading the bases against reliever Erica Burkey. But Banner went back to starter Megan Daley, who had pitched the first three innings before giving way to Burkey, and Daley got the first batter she faced to routinely pop out to Baun at second base before Baun made the great catch to save the game.

Clarion scored its first two runs in the third on RBI singles by Marissa Myers and Nemeth before adding a run in the when Yarger scored on a Nicole Lindner groundout.

Burkey got the win going 3 1/3 innings and allowing three runs on two hits and four walks. Daley picked up the save and had a line of 3 2/3 innings allowing two runs on three hits.

Earlier in the day Clarion had rallied from a 3-0 deficit going to the bottom of the fifth with three runs in the fifth only to watch Seton Hill come right back with a pair of runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to get the 8-3 win.

Burkey took the loss going two innings and allowing five runs on three hits and a walk while striking out three. Daley started and went five innings allowing three runs on four hits and four walks.

Yarger started Clarion's rally in the fifth with a two-run single, and Lindner tied the game with an RBI single, one of two hits she had in the game.

Clarion returns to action Tuesday when it faces Northern Kentucky at 9 a.m. and Wilmington (Del.) at 11 a.m. in Kissimmee.