GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Golden Eagle softball team fell to the top team in the PSAC West division on Wednesday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to Seton Hill in Greensburg. The Griffins won by a 4-0 score in the first game and defeated Clarion (12-22, 8-20 PSAC West) by a 7-3 score in the nightcap.
 
Golden Eagle offense was limited in the doubleheader as five Seton Hill pitchers combined to allow just three runs over the two games. Brooke Cline delivered the biggest hits of the day for Clarion, going 2-for-4 at the dish in the second game with two RBIs. Her second hit of the contest came at a time when the Golden Eagles nearly erased Seton Hill's 4-1 lead, plating Alyssa Stitt to start a two-run rally in the top of the fifth inning. Hannah Norton followed with an RBI single of her own to drive home Carissa Giordano and cut the deficit to 4-3, but Alexis Vargas and Samantha Estupinian added RBI extra-base hits in the fifth for insurance runs.
 
Clarion had opportunities to take control of the first game as early as the first inning, when Stitt led off the game with a double. She and Makenzie Wolfe successfully executed a double steal to put runners on second and third with no outs but neither came across as the Griffins shut it down. No Golden Eagle baserunners would advance past second base again until the fourth inning, when starting pitcher Chelsea Liroff (3-4) bunted Jessica Cartia and Rebecca Kelley over for the first out of the inning. Shaelynn Myers escaped the jam and kept the Golden Eagles from seriously threatening again. Liroff was solid in the circle, allowing four runs – two earned – in her six innings of action.
 
The Golden Eagles struck first in game two, with Cline clubbing an RBI single to score Giordano. Seton Hill responded with four runs off starter Megan Anderson (4-6) in the second inning.  Cline and Norton hit RBI singles in the fifth inning to reduce the lead, but Vargas' solo home run in the fifth inning got the Griffins back on track.
 
Clarion will close out their 2021 season this weekend with a four-game set against IUP, starting with a road doubleheader on Saturday against the Crimson Hawks. The home finale will come one day later, on Sunday.