CALIFORNIA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle softball team came up short on a pair of games against California (PA) on Friday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the Vulcans. California won the first game 6-3, and the second 11-3 in five innings.
 
California (PA) 6, Clarion 3
Recap: Rachel Helsley hit her first home run in more than a month to open the scoring for the game, drilling the first pitch she saw from starter Caleigh Rister over the center field fence to lead off the second inning of play. The Golden Eagles tried to tack on more runs in the inning after Tori Martrano followed up with a single, but she was retired on the basepaths on Amber Gilliam's grounder to second, and Brooke McCanna lined into a double play to end the inning.
 
Allison Gilliam led off the third inning with one of her two doubles on the day, and Carissa Giordano bunted pinch runner Lauren Hartman to third with two outs, but Alyssa Stitt hit a fly to center field to end the threat. That provided an opening for the Vulcans to take the lead, with Carlena Fiorilli hitting a two-run single to the outfield to make it 3-1. The advantage eventually grew to 6-1 after Britney Wilson drove in runs in the fourth and sixth innings, as well as a run-scoring double by Shayna Postler.
 
Clarion chipped back away at the Vulcan lead in the seventh inning, cutting the advantage in half in the comeback attempt. Martrano led off the inning with a single and scored from first on Allison Gilliam's two-out RBI double. Kathryn O'Horo followed up with a double of her own, driving an 0-2 pitch to the gap in left center to score Gilliam. That would be the end of the Golden Eagle rally, though, as Giordano popped up to end the game.
 
Allison Gilliam and Martrano each recorded two hits, while Helsley added the home run and reached on a walk. Emma Hipps allowed five earned runs in six innings.
 
California (PA) 11, Clarion 3 (5 inn.)
Recap: The second game started going the Vulcans' way from the very beginning, with California scoring seven combined runs in the first two innings. That outburst chased started Megan Anderson, who gave up five earned runs, and also included a tally off reliever Angelina Pepe.
 
The Golden Eagles took a bite out of that 7-0 deficit in the third inning, stringing together a series of runners on base to score three runs. O'Horo, Giordano and Stitt hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning, with Stitt's knock scoring O'Horo to put the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard. Emily Buchleitner drew a walk to load the bases and Helsley added another RBI for the day, hitting a sacrifice fly to right field to score Giordano. Allison Gilliam later scored Stitt with a single to right field, but Buchleitner was thrown out at second base to end the inning.
 
Postler hit a payoff pitch for an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning to increase the Vulcans' lead to 8-3, and Charity Henderson added an RBI single to increase the lead to six runs. That set California up to end the game in the fifth inning, with Fiorilli hitting a sacrifice fly to make it a seven-run game, and Henderson scoring Mikayla Linkous on an RBI fielder's choice to make it an eight-run deficit.
 
Allison Gilliam had another multi-hit game, going 2-for-2 with an RBI.
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