Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Despite some solid individual performances, the Clarion University softball team went 0-3 Wednesday in its final day in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
 
The Golden Eagles dropped a doubleheader to NAIA Waldorf (Iowa), who entered the twinbill unbeaten at 16-0, by scores of 6-5 and 3-0 and then fell for the third time in Myrtle Beach to Philadelphia University, 12-1.
 
The Wilcox sisters – senior Kirsten and freshman Casey – both cranked two-run home runs in the opener, and Kirsten had an all-around solid day going 2-for-6 in the two games she played with the home run, two RBIs, two runs scored, two walks and a stolen base on offense while recording two more outfield assists giving her five on the season or two more than her team-leading three outfield assists last year and already the most outfield assists by a Golden Eagle since Carlie Cook had six in 2010.
 
Shawnna Crago followed up her 10-strikeout performance Tuesday with a seven-whiff day in the second game against Waldorf Wednesday but was the hard-luck loser tossing a complete game allowing three runs, two earned, on nine hits and a walk while striking out the seven.
 
Ashley Barenchik continued her solid play with a team-high three hits on the day going 3-for-5 in her two games with a double and a run scored. She finished the seven-game southern tour hitting 4 of 12 (.333) with two doubles and an RBI.
 
Lydia Middaugh, who had one start and a pinch-hit appearance Wednesday, was 2-for-3 on the day with a run scored, while Megan Anderson and Christina Tressler also had two hits apiece.
 
Tressler, who was 2-for-10 Wednesday, finished the South Carolina portion of Clarion's season hitting .409 (9 of 22) with two doubles and three RBIs.
 
Clarion (1-6) battled unbeaten Waldorf toe-to-toe in both games but came out on the short end both times.
 
In the first game, the Golden Eagles were trailing 5-3 going to the sixth when Middaugh drew a two-out walk and Casey Wilcox followed with a home run over the centerfield fence to tie the game at five.
 
But Waldorf was able to answer in the bottom of the sixth when Kate Martino, who was 4-for-4 in the game with a run scored and two RBIs singled home Ashley Brandt, the lone base runner at the time, from third with two outs.
 
Clarion had a chance to tie the game or take the lead in the top of the seventh when Wilcox led off with an infield single was bunted to second by Kayla Henderson and moved to third on a single to center by Barenchik bringing up Powell with just one out and the tying run at third.
 
But Powell never got a chance to hit with Wilcox at third, as the senior was picked off/caught stealing when Barenchik took second trying to steal. Barenchik stopped halfway, and when the Waldorf catcher didn't throw the ball right away Clarion's runners froze before Wilcox was caught straying a little too far off third. Tressler then grounded to shortstop ending the game.
 
The game was a back-and-forth contest with Clarion taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Barenchik doubled home Kirsten Wilcox, who had reached on an error leading off the game.
 
Waldorf answered with a pair of unearned runs off Clarion freshman pitcher Lyndsey Jones in the bottom of the inning with Jones' two throwing errors in the inning hurting her own cause.
 
Clarion, though, retook the lead in the top of the second when Kirsten Wilcox hit her first career home run – over the centerfield fence – with two outs.
 
Waldorf, however, tied the game with a run in the third and then took the 5-3 lead with two in the fourth before the younger Wilcox brought Clarion's crowd and bench to life with the game-tying jack.
 
Jones took the loss going six innings and allowing six runs, four earned, on 10 hits while striking out four. She didn't walk a batter.
 
Barenchik was 3-for-4 with the double and RBI, while Middaugh was 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored and Kirsten Wilcox was 2-for-4 with the home run, two runs scored and two RBIs.
 
In the nightcap against Waldorf, Crago pitched well but got limited offensive support with Clarion managing just three hits. Tressler, Anderson and Laura Myers, playing in her first game in two years, each had singles.
 
The final game of the afternoon, against Philadelphia University, was another tough offensive performance by Clarion with the Golden Eagles not managing a hit until the sixth inning and finishing with three.
 
The Rams took a 3-0 lead in the third off freshman Paige Baker and then added three more in the fifth and two in the sixth to take an 8-0 lead before Clarion kept the game from becoming a shortened eight-run contest by getting a run back in the bottom of the sixth. A comeback, though, wasn't in the card, as Philadelphia added four more runs in the seventh.
 
Clarion's lone run came in the sixth after two outs when Barenchik was hit by a pitch and scored on a double to center by Tressler.
 
Baker took the loss going seven innings allowing 12 runs, all earned, on 17 hits and three walks while striking out three.
 
The Golden Eagles also got hits from Powell and Anderson, both singles.
 
Clarion is scheduled to return to action with a pair of PSAC West home contests this weekend – Mercyhurst Friday and Edinboro Saturday – but both games are in pearl because of the projected weather in Clarion and the condition of Clarion's field after a long, wet, cold winter.