AIKEN, S.C. – The Golden Eagle softball team opened up their 2022 season with a pair of hard-luck losses, falling by 6-0 and 3-2 scores in a doubleheader to USC Aiken on Friday afternoon. Clarion (0-2) generally pitched well in both contests, but the Pacers were able to score timely runs to take both ends of the twinbill.
 
Game 1 – USC Aiken 6, Clarion 0
Recap: The game was essentially even for the first three innings of action, as Chelsea Liroff (0-1) worked out of a couple of jams and kept it a 1-0 game. The Pacers began to pull away in the fourth inning, touching her up for a three-spot that included a two-run home run from Brianna Dow.
 
Conversely, the Golden Eagles had a difficult time putting runners aboard against Rebekah Cook. They did not get a runner into scoring position until the top of the third when Alyssa Stitt was hit by a pitch, and followed by stealing second with two outs. Brooke Cline gave the ball a ride to deep right field, but Shiroria Bosket tracked it down in the heavy crosswind to end the threat.
 
Trailing 6-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Clarion's best chance to score came after Stitt led off the inning with a walk. Makenzie Wolfe added a base hit to put runners on first and second, but Tori Martrano's liner was gloved in left field and sent back to second, doubling up Stitt to end the inning.
 
Game 2 – USC Aiken 3, Clarion 2
Recap: Megan Anderson (0-1) allowed just three runs – two earned – in the second game against the Pacers, but managed to keep the opponent off the scoreboard in the final three innings as her teammates on offense began to chip away at the lead. Chip away they did, as the Golden Eagles added one run apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to pull within a single run.
 
Allison Gilliam got things going in the first, leading off the frame with a single and advancing to second on a wild pitch. She eventually came around to score on freshman Billie Aguglia's first career RBI, with Aguglia taking the first pitch of the at-bat to right field to score Gilliam from second. The lead was cut to 3-2 in the sixth inning, thanks to heads-up baserunning by Clarion. Wolfe reached on a one-out single, followed by a pinch-hit sac bunt attempt by Liroff.
 
Pitcher Lakyn Phillips committed a costly error, allowing Liroff to advance to third and Gilliam to come around to score. Hannah Norton just missed out on the game-tying hit when she lined out to shortstop, and Desi Allen grounded out to strand runners on the corners.
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