CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion softball team held on for a doubleheader split on Wednesday, defeating Edinboro 5-4 in the early game before falling by a 5-2 score to the Fighting Scots in the nightcap.  The Golden Eagles (5-29) will host Lock Haven in a conference doubleheader on Friday.
 
Brigid Stermel helped power the Golden Eagles to a win in the early game, going 2-of-4 with two RBI's against the Fighting Scots.  She pulled Clarion to within 3-2 in the fifth inning and drove in what would be the winning run when she scored on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Edinboro shortstop Courtney Allen fielded Stermel's ground ball with the bases loaded but missed a tag on Taylor Nonnenberg advancing the third, allowing the run to score and Stermel to safely reach to make it 5-3.
 
Paige Baker earned the win in the early game, throwing two innings of relief after entering for an effective Sarah Gossard.  Gossard allowed just three runs but left the game with Clarion trailing 3-1.  Rachel Hoffman took the loss in the second game, allowing five runs – though just two earned – in five innings.
 
Nonnenberg gave Clarion a 1-0 lead early in the first game, smacking an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning to score Haley Pszyk after Gossard escaped jams in the first two innings.  Edinboro scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-1 advantage, but Stermel cut into that deficit with her RBI single in the fifth. 
 
The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and made Edinboro pay, with Audrey Hummell scoring the tying run on an RBI groundout by Aryn Boyer.  Cassidy Runyan plated the go-ahead run after an error by Allen, and Stermel made it 5-3 with her fielder's choice.  The Fight Scots got one of those runs back in the seventh, but Baker shut the door with two straight strikeouts to end the inning.
 
Clarion trailed 2-0 in the fifth inning of the second game before Hoffman drove in their first run, hitting a flare to short right to bring Stermel across and make it 2-1.  The Fighting Scots scored three in the top of the sixth, though, and the Golden Eagles were unable to make up the difference.