CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles softball team authored two late innings victories on Thursday afternoon, coming back from a two-run deficit to beat Pitt-Johnstown 7-4 in the first half of a doubleheader before winning 7-6 in a walkoff against the Mountain Cats in the late game.
 
Alexis Valencia broke the Golden Eagles' career record for stolen bases, doing so with a steal in the first game of the day. That gave her 43 career steals, breaking Taylor Nonnenberg's record of 42 stolen bases.
 
Game 1: Clarion 7, Pitt-Johnstown 4
RECAP: Clarion rallied from a 4-2 deficit late in the game, scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to turn that disadvantage into a three-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.
 
The Golden Eagles' comeback started with Delanie Davison's leadoff single up the middle, followed by a walk from Emily Buchleitner. Haylie Rimmey cut the deficit to 4-3 when she drove a single up the middle, scoring Davison, and Kathryn O'Horo loaded the bases when she drew a five-pitch walk. Annika Smith followed that up by working for a full count walk to drive in a run, tying the score at 4-4 and keeping the bases loaded with no outs.
 
A wild pitch with two outs allowed pinch runner Malina Serrano – running for Rimmey – to cross the plate and give the Golden Eagles a lead, and Jordy Best broke the game open when she dropped an opposite field single down the right field line to plate Smith and O'Horo and make it a 7-4 game. That was all the advantage Ainsley Perdicaris needed to lock down the win, with the junior hurler allowing a one-out single in the top of the seventh but otherwise shutting down the Mountain Cats.
 
Perdicaris threw a complete game for her fifth win of the season, allowing just one earned run and striking out six Mountain Cats. Davison finished with three hits in as many at-bats, driving in a run and scoring one as well.
 
Game 2: Clarion 7, Pitt-Johnstown 6
RECAP: This time the Golden Eagles took a big early lead but were forced to defend it late, eventually walking it off in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the game tied at 6-6 in the home half of the seventh, O'Horo led off by dropping a single down the left field line, and Smith bumped her over to second base with a sacrifice bunt.
 
A throwing error allowed Brooke Dobson to reach and put runners on the corners for Valencia, who lifted a ball to left field to allows O'Horo to score for the win.
 
Jordy Best got the ball rolling with a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning, one of two triples in the game for the catcher. In the process Best became the first player in program history to record two triples in the same game twice in her career, having done so earlier this year against Slippery Rock. In this case she scored on Davison's grounder to shortstop, and Buchleitner scored Desi Allen to make it 2-0.
 
Clarion tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second. Best drilled a triple down the right field line to score Valencia and O'Horo, making it a 4-0 game, and Allen scored her with a double to deep center field to make it a 5-0 game. The Mountain Cats chipped away and eventually tied the game in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs in that frame to een things up at 5-5.
 
The Golden Eagles got that lead back briefly, with Davison scoring Best with an RBI single through the left side, but an RBI double by the Mountain Cats in the seventh tied the score again.
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