CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle softball team split a home doubleheader with Pitt-Johnstown on Friday afternoon, with Clarion recording a 4-3 walk-off win over the Mountain Cats in the opening game before falling 8-2 in the nightcap.
 
Game 1 - Clarion 4, Pitt-Johnstown 3
Recap: The Golden Eagles rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the final three innings, with Alyssa Stitt hitting a walkoff two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to clinch a 4-3 win for Clarion.
 
Neither side pushed a run across until the top of the third inning, when the Mountain Cats broke things open on a two-run double by Maddie Flowers. Julia Mooney drove her home with a double to right field, giving Pitt-Johnstown a 3-0 lead and chasing starter Kendyl Switzer from the circle.
 
Clarion chipped into the deficit with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, starting with a leadoff single from Chelsea Liroff. Brooke Cline drew a walk in the next at-bat to put runners on first and second, and Hannah Norton drove Liroff in from second on a single to make it 3-1. Stitt drove in the first of three runs in her next appearance, lifting a long fly to center field to score Cline on the sacrifice fly.
 
The game-winning rally came in the bottom of the seventh inning, starting with a one-out single from Cline and a walk drawn by Makenzie Wolfe. Norton again kept things moving, this time with a hard-hit ball to third base that was mishandled for an error. With the bases loaded and just one out, Stitt pulled a hard pitch through the left side of the infield to score Cline and Wolfe, giving the Golden Eagles a 4-3 walkoff win. It was the second walkoff win in three games for the Golden Eagles.
 
Stitt finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs, giving her at least one RBI in each of her last five games and seven over the course of her last two. Amber Gilliam earned the win with 3.1 innings of one-hit relief.
 
Game 2: UPJ 8, Clarion 2
Recap: The Mountain Cats again held the Golden Eagle bats silent in the early going while establishing a lead, taking a 2-0 advantage in the top of the third inning on an RBI double from Laura Fox and a run-producing single from Taylor Mendicino.
 
Pitt-Johnstown's lead extended to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning, after Cassidy Kern hit a two-out, two-run single to right field to score Hailei Markee and Flowers. The Golden Eagles got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth, after Billie Aguglia led off the frame with a single and advanced on an error in center field. Beka McClymonds came in to pinch run and promptly stole third base, and came around to score on a ball hit to right by Carissa Giordano. The threat did not end as Clarion put runners on second and third with two outs, but Wolfe's long fly ball to center field was caught for the final out of the inning. The Mountain Cats scored four in the sixth inning to bump their lead to 8-1 and lock up the win, though Norton drove in Stitt on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Norton and Aguglia each recorded multiple hits, with the former going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Giordano also drove in a run.
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