SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle softball team evened their record in conference play with a doubleheader sweep on the road on Wednesday, taking a pair of games from Slippery Rock to improve to 2-2 in PSAC West play. Clarion won the first game 4-1 and the second 6-5.
Game 1: Clarion 4, Slippery Rock 1
Recap: Neither team got much traction offensively as starting pitchers
Emma Hipps and Kelsi Anderson did a good job limiting their respective opponents from stringing together big hits. As such small ball ruled the day, with the Golden Eagles showing themselves up to the task of manufacturing runs.
The first such opportunity came in the first inning.
Carissa Giordano led off the inning with a walk and then stole second base.
Emily Buchleitner advanced her to third with a groundout to short stop and
Tori Martrano brought her home, driving a single up the middle of the infield for the run.
That was the only run scored by either side until the bottom of the fourth inning, when The Rock finally broke through on the scoreboard against Hipps. Alexsa Hurd singled down the left field line to score Arielle Brown, and Slippery Rock loaded the bases with one out. Hipps escaped further damage by inducing Alyssa Sheely into a groundout, allowing
Kathryn O'Horo to throw home to
Brooke McCanna for a force out, and she then retired Julia Montie for the final out of the inning.
The Golden Eagles got that run back in the fifth, again through use of heads-up baserunning.
Alyssa Stitt hit a one-out double to left center field, and Buchleitner followed up with a hit to put runners on second and third with one out. A wild pitch from Slippery Rock's Chloe Sharman allowed Stitt to cross home plate and give the Golden Eagles the lead. Clarion got some insurance in the top of the seventh inning, starting with a productive groundout by Buchleitner that allowed Giordano to score from third.
Desi Allen followed up with a sacrifice fly to left field to score
Alyssa Stitt, making it 4-1. Hipps did the rest from there, retiring the Rock in order in the bottom of the seventh.
Hipps improved to 6-1 on the season, throwing a complete game and allowing just one run on six hits. She struck out six batters and walked none. Clarion recorded just four hits as a team, but Stitt and Giordano each recorded two walks and two runs scored.
Game 2:
Recap: The Golden Eagles struck first in the second game of the day, ripping off three runs in the top of the first inning to take the lead. Stitt and Buchleitner recorded back-to-back one-out singles, and
Rachel Helsley was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Allen brough the first two runs home with a single through the infield, and Martrano added her second RBI hit of the day in the subsequent at-bat to score Helsley and make it 3-0.
The Rock got two of those runs back in the home half of the inning, after an errant throw by
Billie Aguglia attempting to get Hurd at second base allowed both Hurd and Brown to score. Starter
Megan Anderson took control from that point of the game, allowing no runs in each of the next three innings as her team built a 6-2 lead.
Stitt was solely responsible for making it a 4-2 game, driving a 3-1 pitch from Claire Zimmerman over the left field fence for a solo home run. Anderson helped her own cause in the top of the fifth inning when she shot a two-run single through the right side of the infield, bringing home Martrano and Allen to make it a 6-2 game.
Slippery Rock had their best offensive inning of the game in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs off Anderson and threatening to tie or take the lead. With two outs, Erin Gardner hit a sharp line drive into the glove of Anderson, ending the threat and the inning. The Rock put one runner on base in each of the next two half-innings of work, but Anderson shut the door on the comeback attempt to complete the sweep.
Allen, Buchleitner and Stitt each recorded two hits apiece, with Allen driving in a pair of runs. Stitt's home run was her third of the season, putting her into a tie for the team lead with Helsley. Anderson threw a complete game, allowing five runs, though just three were earned.
