Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Arcadia Box | Robert Morris (Ill.) Box

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Kirsten Wilcox was 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs and had the big hit in a four-run second inning to help the Clarion University softball team beat Robert Morris (Ill.) 18-9 in six innings in the second of two games for the Golden Eagles Wednesday in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
 
Wilcox broke a 5-all tie with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the top of the second after it looked like Robert Morris would get out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam with a pair of strikeouts. But the Wilcox single was followed by a Sara Clark two-run triple that put Clarion ahead 9-4. Clark went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the win, which helped the Golden Eagles go 1-1 on the day after a tough 10-9, nine-inning loss to Arcadia in the first game of the morning.
 
Clarion responded to the tough first-game loss, by scoring five runs in the top of the first against Robert Morris before the Eagles responded with five of their own in the bottom of the inning.
 
But after Wilcox's single and Clark's triple, Clarion never gave up the lead scoring another run in the third to go ahead 10-5 before Robert Morris got back within one with a four-run bottom of the third. The Golden Eagles, however, put the game away with an eight-run sixth inning that featured 11 hits including two apiece from Taylor Powell, Taylor Sherry and Wilcox.
 
In all, Clarion, which scored its most runs in three years, had seven different players have multiple hits in the game.
 
Powell was 3-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored, Elizabeth Shiring and Rebecca Lynch were each 3-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Kacie Nemeth was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Sherry added a 3-for-4 performance with two runs scored. Paige Alexander, meanwhile, was 1-for-1 with three RBIs and Megan Daley was 1-for-1 with two RBIs and a run scored. Lynch had a pair of doubles, while Alexander had a triple and Nemeth, Powell and Sherry each doubles for Clarion.
 
Daley got the win in relief of Shawnna Crago going three scoreless and hitless innings striking out three. Crago started and allowed nine runs, all earned, on 10 hits and two walks while striking out three in three innings of work.
 
In the first game of the day against Arcadia, Clarion rallied from an early 2-0 deficit by scoring three in the second and three in the third to go up 6-2. Arcadia scored four in the bottom of the third to tie the score at six before the teams exchanged runs in the fourth. Then in the first extra inning, both teams scored a run before Clarion scored one in the ninth before Arcadia won the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Clark led Clarion's offense going 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored while Crago was 1-for-2 with two RBIs. Nemeth was 2-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored and Kelly Peterson was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
 
Chelsea Zola took the loss in relief pitching five innings and allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits. She struck out one. Crago started and pitched 3 1/3 innings allowing seven runs, four earned, on seven hits and two walks.
 
Clarion concludes its spring-training trip Thursday with a pair of games. The Golden Eagles take on Arcadia at 11:30 a.m. and Lycoming at 1:30 p.m.