MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Clarion softball team played a pair of tight contests on the road on Thursday, but the Golden Eagles were ultimately swept in a doubleheader with Mansfield by 4-1 and 10-9 scores.  With the losses, Clarion falls to 4-31 on the season and 1-17 in PSAC Central play.
 
Kira Smith (1-4) suffered the loss in Game 1 after allowing four runs in 6.0 innings; she walked five batters yet struck out none.  Rachel Hoffman (2-12) threw 6.0 innings and allowed 10 runs in the nightcap.
 
Christina Tressler went 4-of-4 in the second game with an RBI and a run scored, while Taylor Nonnenberg went 2-of-3 with two home runs, five RBI's and three runs scored in the nightcap.  Cassidy Runyan drove in the lone run of the first game and went 1-of-4 at the dish in the process.
 
Clarion struck first in the early game, briefly holding a 1-0 lead on the Mountaineers in the top of the third inning.  Cassie Daniels reached base after striking out thanks to a passed ball from the Mansfield catcher Hannah Secord, and Taylor Nonnenberg sacrificed her into scoring position with a bunt.  Runyan finished off the manufactured run with a single up the middle of the infield, bringing Daniels home and reaching second herself on the throw to the plate.
 
Mansfield got the run back and then some in the home half of the inning, though, scoring twice on a two-run single into center field by Secord.  The Golden Eagles had the opportunity to draw even in the fourth inning when they placed Casey Wilcox and Paige Baker on second and third with one out but were unable to bring either home.  The Mountaineers added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pad their lead to 4-1 and held off another instance of a possible Golden Eagle rally, when Rachel Hoffman was stranded at third base with two outs.  Pitcher Ashley Inman threw a clean seventh inning to secure the win.
 
The teams traded runs in the first inning of Game 2 but Nonnenberg gave the Golden Eagles a lead when she belted a three-run homer in the top of the second to make it 4-1.  Laura Lawson tied the score for Mansfield with a jack of her own in the third, but Nonnenberg crushed a two-run homer over the center field wall to put Clarion back on top by a 6-4 score.
 
The Mountaineers broke a 7-7 tie in the home half of the fifth inning and eventually went ahead 10-7, but the Golden Eagles chipped away and came up just short in the seventh.  With the bases loaded and no outs, Daniels drove in Casey Wilcox with a bouncer to second base to make it 10-8.  Another run cross on a grounder by Lauren Sturnick, but the Mountaineers turned the double play and staved off the Golden Eagle rally.