April 7, 2010

Box Score

MANSFIELD - A five-run sixth inning highlighted by a three-run Rachelle Yarger homer run lifted Clarion to a 7-6 win over Mansfield in the first game of a PSAC-Central doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Mansfield giving the Golden Eagles their first ever PSAC-Central victory and their first conference win since 2006.

"It's great," first-year interim head coach Nicole Banner said. "We played well as a team. The players really came together and did what was needed to win the game. And Megan Daley pitched a good game. She is really coming along as a pitcher in her first season."

Mansfield rallied to take Game Two 16-8 in six innings, but the real story of the day was Game One, which saw Clarion, which is in its second year in the PSAC-Central, rally from a 4-1 deficit going to the fifth inning.

The Golden Eagles (3-20 overall, 1-7 PSAC-Central) got within two when they scored a run on a Mansfield error in the fifth. Then came the monster sixth when Nicole Lollo started the rally with a walk followed by a Katie Baun single. Yarger then launched her first homer of the season and second of her career to give Clarion a 5-4 lead. But the Golden Eagles weren't done, as they added onto the lead with RBI singles by Nemeth and Lollo to go up 7-4.

Mansfield tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh platting two runs with two outs, and Mansfield had the tying run at third and the winning run at second before Megan Daley induced a game-ending groundout to seal Clarion's first conference victory since April 13, 2006, when the Golden Eagles beat Slippery Rock in a PSAC-West game.

Carlie Cook was 2-for-2 with a run scored to lead the offense, while Baun was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an second-inning RBI. Rebecca Lynch scored twice and was 1-for-4, while Nemeth was 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Yarger was 1-for-2 with a run scored and three RBIs.

Daley got the complete-game win allowing six runs, all earned, on 13 hits, two walks and a hit batter. She struck out two.

In the nightcap, Clarion jumped to a quick 1-0 lead after a half inning before Mansfield scored two in the first and six in the second to go ahead 8-1. The Golden Eagles rallied with four of their own in the third thanks in part to a two-run double by Cook to close to within 8-5 before a Mansfield run in the bottom of the inning made it 9-5. The teams then traded runs in the fourth leaving Mansfield up 10-6 before a two-spot in the fifth got the Golden Eagles within two. Mansfield, however, ended the game with a six-run sixth.

Erica Burkey took the loss, while Cook was 2-for-3 with three RBIs with Marissa Myers going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Clarion returns to action at 2:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts IUP in doubleheader.