CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle softball team wrapped up their 2023 home schedule on Tuesday afternoon, losing in both ends of a doubleheader to IUP at Memorial Stadium. The Crimson Hawks won the first game by a 10-1 score in five innings, and then rallied to win the second game 9-4.
 
IUP 10, Clarion 1 (5 inn.)
Recap: The first game of the day hinged on two big innings by the Crimson Hawks, who exploded for five runs apiece in the second and fourth innings to build a double-digit advantage. That included a pair of home runs early in the game, with Jaycee Haidze and Madison Pikula adding two- and three-run shots to build the lead.
 
Delaney Patella hit a bases-clearing double off starter Angelina Pepe early in the fourth inning, giving her team an 8-0 lead, and the Crimson Hawks scored two more runs in the frame to make it a 10-0 advantage.
 
It was not until the fifth inning that the Golden Eagles' bats fully woke up, but when they did they but a dent in starter Bella Bucy's stat line. Tori Martrano led off the inning with her first home run of the season, with the junior third baseman turning on an inside pitch and hooking over the fence in left field. Brooke McCanna followed with a hard liner to right field that was caught on a diving play, and Kathryn O'Horo pulled a single down the line for three straight well-struck balls. Bucy rebounded after that, recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
 
The Golden Eagles recorded four hits in the game, while Emily Buchleitner also reached on a walk.
 
IUP 9, Clarion 4
Recap: The final scored belied what had been the flow for most of the game, as IUP took a small early lead that was erased by the Golden Eagles midway through the game. In the first inning, Pikula scored on a grounder to the right side by Lexi Dawson, and in the second inning Jess Cekada led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch.
 
That gave the Crimson Hawks a 2-0 lead, with Clarion stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings. The Golden Eagles broke through with four in the bottom of the fourth inning, taking cue of a miscue by IUP to get the party started. Amber Gilliam reached on a throwing error by the shortstop to lead off the inning, and Martrano followed with an opposite field single to put a pair on the basepaths. Hannah Powierza advanced the duo with a hard grounder to second and O'Horo brought the first run home, looping a hard liner over the third baseman to make it 2-1.
 
The big hit of the inning came in the next at-bat. Carissa Giordano roped a line drive to deep right-center field, clearing the bases with a triple that gave the Golden Eagles a 3-2 lead. That chased starter Tori Long, though Alyssa Stitt stuck her with one more run on her ledger with an RBI groundout that scored Giordano.
 
Starter Megan Anderson looked to be in control of the game since the end of the second inning, putting up four shutout innings and in line to earn the win heading into the seventh. IUP exploded for their own big inning, though, saddling Anderson with seven runs in the final inning to take a 9-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Emily Buchleitner hit a one-out single and advanced all the way to third on one passed ball in that frame, but reliever Elizabeth Kasper retired the final two Clarion batters of the game to lock up the win.
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