CLARION, Pa. – Wednesday's home opener for the Golden Eagle softball team proved to be an emotional rollercoaster from the first pitch, as Clarion split a doubleheader with Mercyhurst at Memorial Stadium. The Golden Eagles dropped the first half of the doubleheader 3-2 before winning the nightcap 9-3 in a game called due to darkness.
 
The day started with a tense one-run game where strong pitching and timely hitting kept both teams on the edge of their seats until the last out. Conversely, the two teams enjoyed great offensive success in the second game. Clarion teed off for eight runs in the first three innings, and the Lakers actually took the lead in the top of the seventh inning before the game was called for darkness. By rule Clarion was declared the winner due to leading at the conclusion of the last full inning, the sixth.
 
Still, the offensive outburst was complemented well by six strong innings from Rebecca Kelley (1-0), who earned her first pitching win since Feb. 24, 2018. The senior lefty allowed just four hits and three earned runs in six innings to keep the Lakers down. She helped her own cause in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run homer, pulling the ball over the right field fence to score Makenzie Wolfe. Both Kelley and Wolfe finished 3-for-4 at the plate in the second game.
 
Brooke Cline went 3-for-7 at the plate with two RBIs over the doubleheader, and got things started in the win by smacking a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning and scoring on an error at third base. Kelley's bomb made it 3-0 after one but the Lakers got two of those back on a two-run double by Brianne Egelston. Cline struck again in the second inning, this time driving a single to bring home Brooke McCanna and Alexandra Brentzel and make it 5-2. A series of errors by Mercyhurst in the third loaded the bases for Clarion, who manufactured three runs in the frame to go ahead 8-3.
 
Meanwhile, Kelley kept the Lakers at bay, limiting Mercyhurst to two base runners from the fourth inning on. She retired them in order in the top of the sixth inning and Jessica Cartia tacked on a sac fly in the bottom of the frame to set the deficit at 9-3.
 
Conversely, the first game featured far fewer offensive fireworks. Laura Sadowski (0-1) pitched a strong game in the hard luck loss, throwing seven innings and allowing three runs. Like Kelley in the late game she aided her own cause with a home run, with Sadowski's coming as a solo shot in the fifth inning to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Things were a little uneven in Sadowski's first inning as the Lakers scored a pair of runs. They had the opportunity to add more but excellent defensive plays by the Golden Eagles kept things in hand. With one out in the top of the first, Allison Dejidas hit a comebacker to the circle, with Cartia making a difficult tag on Madison Fry, who was coming in hot from third base. Marisa Cartellone hit a two-run double to plate a pair of runs, but the inning ended as Beka McClymonds got the ball in from the right field corner to nail Cartellone at third. Clarion got on the board in the third inning after Sadowski led off the frame with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. She scored when McClymonds hit a routine grounder to short that was mishandled, making it 2-1.
Sadowski's homer in the fifth inning tied the game at 2-2, but Cartellone led off the sixth with a solo shot of her own to retake the lead. Morgan Hilty came in to pitch for the Lakers in the sixth and retired Clarion in order, and finished them off with a scoreless seventh for the save.