MENTOR, Ohio – The Golden Eagle softball team dropped a pair of close games in a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon, falling by scores of 5-0 and 3-2 to Lake Erie at a twinbill played at Mentor High School.
Clarion is scheduled to play their home opener this weekend, when they host Walsh at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, March 19.
Lake Erie 5, Clarion 0
Recap: The Golden Eagles got a largely good pitching outing from
Ashley DeWeese and
Chelsea Liroff, with the pair allowing just two earned runs in their six innings of pitching. However, the Storm took advantage of errors on back-to-back plays with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning to build a 5-0 lead. DeWeese induced a pair of groundouts to start the inning, but Payton Brownlee and Arianna Tammaro reached on back-to-back errors to keep the threat alive. Brownlee eventually scored on a wild pitch, and Kiya Smith hit a two-run double to give the Storm a 5-0 advantage.
Clarion's best opportunity to score came in the top of the second inning, when
Tori Martrano reached on an error at second base to lead off the inning.
Allison Gilliam grounded out to advance Martrano into scoring position, but neither
Alyssa Stitt nor
Nicole Collins could drive her home.
Makenzie Wolfe went 2-for-3 at the dish with a pair of singles.
Brooke Cline also recorded a base knock.
Lake Erie 3, Clarion 2
Recap: The Storm once again took an early lead in this contest, scoring all three of their runs off
Kendyl Switzer in the first inning. Switzer shut them down from there, though, tossing five subsequent shutout innings to keep her team in the action. Though the Golden Eagles had runners on first and second with just one out in the top of the first inning, they struggled to bring them across the plate.
Billie Aguglia broke the drought in the top of the fifth inning, hitting a leadoff solo home run to cut Lake Erie's lead to 3-1. Switzer worked out of a jam in the home half of the inning, sparking the Golden Eagles to continue to chip away at the lead. In the top of the sixth,
Desi Allen drew a two-out pinch-hit walk. Stitt brought her home with an RBI double, cutting the lead to 3-2. However, Clarion got no closer as the Storm held them off for the win.
Stitt went 2-for-3 at the plate to go with her RBI double, while
Rachel Helsley also recorded a pair of hits.
