CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion softball team played a pair of tight games on Wednesday afternoon, but the Golden Eagles were unable to come away with a win in falling 6-0 and 9-5 to Pitt-Johnstown at Memorial Field. The Golden Eagles (0-39, 0-16 PSAC Central) will host their final home doubleheader of the season on Friday when they welcome Bloomsburg to town.
Chelsea Liroff was a standout pitching in relief, throwing 3.2 innings in each game and allowing just three runs – one earned – over the course of both contests. She allowed just five hits on the afternoon and escaped a number of jams, stranding the bases loaded in both games.
Clarion took an early lead in the late game, jumping out to a 3-1 advantage thanks to some opportunistic baserunning and timely hitting.
Taylor Nonnenberg hit a one-out single and
Rebecca Kelley followed with a walk.
Hannah Norton loaded the bases with a single, and two runs came around to score when
Natalie Else lined a ball off the glove of the second baseman.
Aryn Boyer responded with a single up the middle to score Norton, putting the Golden Eagles ahead by a pair of runs.
The Mountain Cats tied the score with two runs in the top of the third inning and took the lead back with three runs in the fourth, making it a 6-3 game. Clarion started pulling back in the home half of the inning when
Nicole Collins hit a leadoff triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Moriah Lynn. Else drove in
Makenzie Wolfe with an RBI single in the fifth inning to pull her team within 6-5, but Pitt-Johnstown scored three more runs the rest of the way to seal the win.
The Mountain Cats allowed just two hits in the first game of the day, stymieing the Golden Eagle attack in the shutout win. The best chance for Clarion to score came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kelley and Else reached with one out. The threat ended on a line drive by Boyer that was gloved in center field for the final out of the inning. Pitt-Johnstown kept the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard for the rest of the game for the win.
