CLARION, Pa. --- Taking the field after a long weather-related layoff, the Golden Eagle softball team split a doubleheader at home on Monday afternoon, taking the first game against California (PA) 5-1 before falling 6-2 in the nightcap.
 
Game 1: Clarion 5, California (PA) 1
Recap: As had been the case in most of their PSAC West games to date, the first half of the doubleheader was a low-scoring affair for a good portion of the game. The Golden Eagles got their first run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning after Tori Martrano led off the frame with a single.
 
Pinch runner Lauren Hartman advanced to second on Annika Smith's single to right center, and Amber Gilliam laid down a bunt that advanced the pair into scoring position. Brooke McCanna pulled a single down the left field line, scoring Hartman from third to give her team a 1-0 lead.
 
The Vulcans responded with a run in the next half-inning, a sacrifice fly to bring Britney Wilson home and tie the score, but that would be the only run conceded by starting pitcher Emma Hipps. Hipps allowed nine hits but did not allow Cal to break the game open, striking out five batters in her complete game win.
 
The offense did their best to provide insurance in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring four runs to help protect the advantage. Alyssa Stitt lined a two-run single to right field to score Gilliam and Kathryn O'Horo, making it 3-1, and Rachel Helsley walked with the bases loaded to score Carissa Giordano. Matrano capped the scoring in the frame, hitting a hard shot to second base and reaching on an error with just one out. That let Stitt cross home plate, making it 5-1.
 
The last push for the Vulcans came in the top of the seventh, when back-to-back one-out singles but on the pressure. Hipps forced Kaitlyn Achtermeier into a pop-up, and then got Rylee Evans to foul out to third base to close the win.
 
Game 2: California (PA) 6, Clarion 2
Recap: The Vulcans turned the tables on the Golden Eagles in the second game, scoring three times in the first inning to take an early lead on starter Megan Anderson. Clarion got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first inning, starting with Giordano's leadoff single up the middle. She swiped second base and came around to score with two outs, busting for home on Martrano's RBI single to center field.
 
Cal methodically added runs the rest of the way, taking a 4-1 lead in the third inning and putting across two insurance tallies in the final two innings. Clarion was the victim of an inning-ending double play in the second inning, but Vulcan starter Alyssa Rose also kept the Golden Eagles from putting another runner into scoring position until O'Horo got to second base on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Evans hit a home run in the sixth to make it 5-1 and Achtermeier lifted a double to deep left field in the seventh to make it a five-run game. O'Horo did manage to bring in another run before the end of the game, pulling a single through the left side of the infield to plate Smith and make it 6-2.
 
Clarion recorded five hits in the second game and drew just three walks against Rose.
 
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