CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle softball team ran their season-long win streak to four games before falling in the second half of a doubleheader, defeating Slippery Rock 3-1 in the opening game of a twinbill before dropping an 11-2 decision in the nightcap. Clarion's (7-11, 5-9 PSAC West) run of wins was their longest since winning five straight during the 2013 season, and their best against conference opposition since back-to-back doubleheader sweeps against The Rock and IUP on April 5-6, 2004.
 
Chelsea Liroff (3-1) notched her team-best third win of the year in the early game, throwing seven innings and allowing just one run on four hits. The junior righthander posted six straight zeroes to start the game and did not allow a single Rock baserunner to get past first base until the top of the seventh inning. Liroff allowed a run in the top of the seventh and saw Slippery Rock load the bases with two outs, but she induced Cami Fisk into a flyout in center field to end the game.
 
Conversely, the Golden Eagles didn't generate much offense in the first game, but they came through when it counted to get the win. Makenzie Wolfe and Rebecca Kelley combined for a run in the bottom of the third inning, with the former reaching on an error at third base and coming around to score on Kelley's single to make it 1-0. They scored what ended up as the winning run in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a leadoff single for Brooke Cline. She scored on Jessica Cartia's sacrifice fly to center field to make it 2-0, and Liroff helped her own cause with an infield single to score Wolfe at 3-0.
 
The Rock held the advantage for the vast majority of the second game, taking on the first six runs of the contest thanks in no small part to a number of Clarion errors. The Golden Eagles did not get on the board until the bottom of the fourth inning, starting with a sacrifice fly by Kelley to score Beka McClymonds from third. Hannah Norton followed that up with her first home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field wall to cut the lead to 6-2. Slippery Rock put on the finishing touches in the sixth inning, scoring five runs off Kendyl Switzer and Laura Sadowski to take an 11-2 edge and invoke the run rule.
 
Clarion will have another chance to improve on their 6-4 home record tomorrow afternoon, when they host the Gannon Golden Knights in a PSAC West doubleheader starting at 2:30 p.m.