CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle softball team earned their first conference doubleheader sweep of the season and their first since last March with a pair of wins over Edinboro at Memorial Stadium. Clarion defeated the Fighting Scots 5-4 in the early game and 7-4 in the nightcap on Tuesday evening.
Game 1: Clarion 5, Edinboro 4
Recap: A wild game that featured twists and turns throughout, Clarion took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run home run by
Makenzie Wolfe. After
Rachel Helsley was hit in the helmet by a pitch with one out, Wolfe crushed a pitch from Macy Sral over the left field fence, putting the Golden Eagles ahead 2-0. Stephanie Krick put the Fighting Scots on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning with an RBI single to score Maura Pasquale, but Wolfe kept them from doing further damage by later delivering a strike from right field to get Krick at home plate.
Starting pitcher
Megan Anderson put up a pair of zeroes in the following innings, but the Fighting Scots scored once in the fifth and twice in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead on the Golden Eagles entering the home half of the inning. Clarion was not ready to go down without a fight, though, and re-took the lead with heads-up baserunning and timely hitting. Tori Martano led off the inning by reaching on an error by Pasquale, and
Carissa Giordano drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Catcher Morgan Spitler lost a handle on a passed ball to allow the runners to advance, and
Kathryn O'Horo hit a pinch-hit RBI single to pull Clarion to within one run.
Wolfe followed with her second hit of the game, driving a single to the opposite field to score Giordano and tie the game at 4-4 with one out. After
Hannah Norton drew a walk,
Alyssa Stitt plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, bringing O'Horo in from third base.
Kendyl Switzer entered the pitching circle in the top of the seventh, ceding a one-out walk to Pasquale but retiring Kendra Keyser and Krick for her first save of the year.
In addition to Wolfe,
Chelsea Liroff,
Allison Gilliam and Giordano all had two hits. Wolfe finished with three RBIs. Anderson earned her second win of the season, throwing 6.0 innings and allowing four runs.
Game 2: Clarion 7, Edinboro 4
Recap: In another instance of intense back-and-forth action, the Fighting Scots scored the first three runs of the second game, including a two-run home run by Mackenzie Quider in the top of the third to make it a 3-0 game. The Golden Eagles first cut into that lead in the bottom of the third when Liroff and Helsley led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Wolfe pulled a single into left field to drive in Clarion's first run of the game, bringing Liroff around from second. The Golden Eagles then took advantage of a miscue in the infield, with
Hannah Norton loading the bases after Pasquale's attempt to get Helsley heading to third went off the mark. Stitt hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, scoring Helsley and pulling to within 3-2.
The Fighting Scots tacked on another run in the fourth inning, with Krick scoring from second after a throwing error by Wolfe to make it 4-2. The Golden Eagles countered with a big inning in the fourth, pushing across four runs to take the lead for the first time in the game. Giordano and Liroff reached on back-to-back one-out singles but the rest of the action came with two outs, starting with an RBI single by Wolfe driven hard into center field. Norton drew a walk to load the bases with two outs and Stitt got to work bringing the runners home, pulling a hard liner down the left field line to score Liroff and Wolfe and make it 5-4.
On the same play, Quider attempted to throw out Norton at second to end the inning, but her throw sailed into right field and allowed a heads-up Norton to come all the way round to score. Stitt added another RBI for good measure in the sixth inning, singling in Wolfe to make it 7-4, and
Amber Gilliam finished off a three-inning save with goose eggs from the fifth inning on.
Liroff picked up the pitching win, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing four runs. Stitt finished with four RBIs and Wolfe added two hits, two runs and two RBIs.
