GLENVILLE, W.Va. – Hannah Norton drove in the game-winning run in extra innings to give the Golden Eagle softball team their first win of the season, capping a 9-8 victory over Lock Haven that saw the Bald Eagles rally from a six-run deficit in the sixth inning.
 
Lock Haven tied the game at 8-8 in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a couple of errors on the part of the Golden Eagles, with Bella Schmitt hitting a two-run double to knot things up between the two teams. Megan Anderson (1-1) avoided any further damage by striking out Sydney Arrigale to end the inning, and neither team was able to push across another run through seven full innings.
 
Playing with the international tiebreaker rule that places a runner on second to start the eighth inning, the Bald Eagles got the first crack to take the lead. Anderson shut them down with a 1-2-3 inning, inducing a pop-up from Delaney Good and striking out the other two Bald Eagles she faced to end the threat. Conversely, the Golden Eagles took advantage of having Chelsea Liroff on base to start the inning. Makenzie Wolfe stroked a one-out single to put runners on the corners, and Hannah Norton drove an RBI single to left field to bring Liroff home.
 
Wolfe had a whale of a game offensively, going 3-for-5 with two home runs, three RBIs and two runs scored from the three-hole in the lineup. Norton batted cleanup, where she was a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish with a home run, two runs scored, two RBIs and a walk. In fact, Wolfe and Norton opened the scoring with home runs on back-to-back at-bats in the bottom of the first inning, tagging a pair of solo shots to put Clarion ahead by a 2-0 score.
 
Brooke McCanna was there to make it 4-0 in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of a leadoff double by Alyssa Stitt. McCanna crushed a ball over the left field fend fence for a two-run homer, scoring Stitt and putting Clarion ahead by four. Wolfe followed up three batters later with her second home run of the day, driving one deep to center field to score Liroff and make it 6-0.
 
It remained that way until the top of the fifth inning, when Lock Haven broke through and scored their first two runs of the game to pull within 6-2. Allison Gilliam responded with a two-run double in the home half of the inning, scoring Norton and Desi Allen to make it 8-2, before a six-run outburst by the Bald Eagles evened the score.
 
Anderson got the win in relief after giving up six runs – only two earned – in three innings pitched. Ashley DeWeese was effective in the start, tossing five innings and allowing two runs while striking out four. Read Full Article