WINTER HAVEN, Fla. --- The Golden Eagle softball team played their penultimate doubleheader at THE Spring Games on Thursday afternoon, falling in a pair of games to Minnesota-Crookston and nationally-ranked Concordia-St. Paul. Clarion fell 5-3 in extra innings in the early game to UMC, and by a 10-2 score in the nightcap to the 24th-ranked Golden Bears.
 
Minnesota-Crookston 5, Clarion 3 (8 inn.)
 
RECAP: The first game of the day required extra innings as the two sets of Golden Eagles squared off in what was a tight contest from start to finish. Neither side lit up the scoreboard until the top of the third inning, when UMC took advantage of a throwing error by Clarion to bring Reagan Emrick around from first base.
 
Sophie Juntunen roped a double down the left field line in the top of the fourth inning to make it 2-0 but Clarion cut the deficit in half in the home portion of the inning. Kathryn O'Horo worked a one-out walk, and Desi Allen moved her over with a sharp line drive single to center field. Tori Martrano brought the first run of the game home for Clarion, plating O'Horo with a single to left center.
 
It was still a 2-1 game in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Golden Eagles managed some two-out magic to briefly take the lead. Martrano hit a two-out single to keep the inning alive, followed by back-to-back hits from Rachel Helsley and Haylie Rimmey. The second of those hits was a line drive to center field that scored Martrano from second to tie the game. Jordan Best followed with a hard hit grounder right up the middle of the infield, driving in Helsley to make it 3-2.
 
UMC recovered in the seventh inning with an RBI single from Shaelyn Grant that tied the score, and they then brought home a pair in the top of the eighth inning to make it 5-3. Alexa Guilford retired Clarion in order in the home half of the inning to clinch the game.
 
Martrano went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Megan Anderson got the start and a no-decision, allowing one unearned run in three innings. Ashley DeWeese was effective for most of her five-inning outing, allowing just three earned runs in her longest appearance of the season.
 
#24 Concordia-St. Paul 10, Clarion 2 (5 inn.)
 
RECAP: The Golden Bears jumped on Clarion early and kept up the pressure throughout the shortened game, scoring multiple runs in all but the first inning to lock up the 10-2 five-inning victory. Annalise Schamehorn smacked a two-run double to deep left-center field in the bottom of the second inning to make it 2-0, and CSP tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third inning to up the lead to 5-0.
 
The Golden Eagles had opportunities to put their own runs on the board early. Clarion loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning after Allen singled to center field, and the pair of Martrano and Rimmey drew walks. However they could not cash in as Emmy Bowne induced a popup for the final out. O'Horo and Allen both reached with one out in the second inning but again the Golden Eagles could not capitalize, as Rimmey's hard grounder to third base turned into a force out.
 
The only Golden Eagle runs of the game came in the top of the fifth inning. Emily Buchleitner led off the inning with a single and O'Horo followed up with a towering two-run shot to left field, scoring a pair and cutting the deficit to 7-2. Rachel Novak hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning to set the final deficit at 10-2 and end the game.
 
Allen went 3-for-3 at the dish with three singles in the second game. Emma Hipps allowed five runs in three innings.
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