CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion softball team dropped a pair of tight decisions at home on Saturday, falling by 3-2 and 5-3 decisions to the Pitt-Johnstown Lady Cats at Memorial Stadium. With the losses, Clarion falls to 3-28 overall on the season and 1-15 in PSAC Central play.
Taylor Nonnenberg went 4-of-8 with three doubles and a home run against the Lady Cats in two games, driving in two runs and scoring two herself as the freshman excelled in the leadoff spot.
Paige Baker and
Kiersten Gromley each went 2-of-4 in the first game of the doubleheader while
Cassidy Runyan and
Sarah Gossard also added hits in Game 2.
Kira Smith took the hard luck loss in Game 1, throwing seven strong innings while giving up just three runs. Likewise, Gossard was mostly good in Game 2, giving up five runs – four earned – in seven innings; other than a four-run third inning, she spent most of the day keeping the Lady Cats off-balance.
Game 1 started with a bang as Nonnenberg hit a first-pitch leadoff home run, driving a ball deep over the right field wall to put Clarion ahead 1-0. The Golden Eagles added on in the bottom of the fifth inning by manufacturing a run against the Lady Cats, starting with a two-out single by
Christina Tressler. Baker followed that with a single to left, and Wilcox drove Tressler in with a liner through the left side of the infield to make it 2-0.
Things began to unravel in the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back extra base hits for the Mountain Cats, who eventually tied the score at 2-2 on a fielder's choice by Ashley Shor. She eventually came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 3-2, and the Lady Cats shut the door in the seventh to take the first game.
The Lady Cats went up 4-0 in the top of the third inning but the Golden Eagles chipped away in the fourth and fifth to get right back into the game.
Cassidy Runyan beat out a throw to first base to score Nonnenberg from third to make it 4-1, and Gossard reached first on an error later in the inning to get Runyan across. Nonnenberg smacked an RBI double to left center in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring in pinch-runner
Tierra Shope and make it 4-3, but the Lady Cats scored an insurance run in the seventh to take the win.