CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle softball team split with one of the top contenders in the PSAC West division on Tuesday afternoon, going 1-1 with Seton Hill at Memorial Stadium in a conference doubleheader. Clarion (11-17, 7-15 PSAC West) dropped the first game by a 2-1 score in extra innings before rebounding to win the second by a 4-2 margin.
 
The day featured some of the best pitching performances of the season for Clarion, with starters Chelsea Liroff (3-2) and Megan Anderson (3-5) both controlling the action in their respective games against the Griffins. Liroff was stuck with a hard-luck loss in the first game as the junior threw all eight innings and allowed just two runs – neither earned – against Seton Hill ace Logan Hartman. Hartman was near infallible, retiring the first 16 batters she faced before the Golden Eagles finally broke through in the late innings. Anderson, by comparison, outdueled Lauren Dellett in the pitching circle, throwing seven innings and allowing two runs, with just one of the runs earned.
 
Seton Hill struck for the first run in both games but was never able to break either game open. In the second, Shayleigh Gulvas opened the scoring with a groundout to first base in the second inning, scoring Dellett and giving the Griffins a 1-0 lead. Griffin miscues helped Clarion take the lead for the first time in the next half inning, after Hannah Norton and Rebecca Kelley opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Jessica Cartia hit a chopper to shortstop but the exchange at second was bobbled, loading the bases for Clarion with no outs. A wild pitch by Dellett brought Norton home for the first run, and Alexandra Brentzel lined a single into center field to put the Golden Eagles ahead 2-1.
 
The Griffins responded with a run in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly by Jenna Osikowicz, but Anderson held Seton Hill without a run the rest of the way and gave her team the chance to re-take the lead. They made their move in the bottom of the fifth inning after Carissa Giordano was hit by a pitch and stole her 15^th base of the season, breaking the program's single-season record set by Taylor Nonnenberg in 2017. Makenzie Wolfe drove her home with a single to center as Giordano beat a play at the plate to take a 3-2 lead. The Golden Eagles tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI single by Cartia, and Anderson shut down the Griffins one more time for the win.
 
In the first game of the doubleheader, Seton Hill took advantage of one of the only real blemishes of Liroff's start. After Liroff dropped a foul pop-up with two outs, Osikowicz came around to score on a single by Alexis Vargas to make it 1-0. It seemed for a while that would be the only run the Griffins required as Hartman was perfect through 5.1 innings, until Tori Martrano drew a walk in the sixth inning. Alyssa Stitt broke up the no-hitter two batters later with a single through the left side of the infield. Clarion finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Liroff slapping an RBI single to score pinch runner Beka McClymonds and tie the game at 1-1. Seton Hill scored in the top of the eighth inning and kept the Golden Eagles from crossing the plate in the home half to secure the 2-1 win.