CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles softball team picked up a home split in the penultimate home doubleheader of the season, beating California (PA) 8-0 in five innings in the first game before falling 9-0 in the second game.
 
Game 1: Clarion 8, California (PA) 0 (5 inn.)
RECAP: The Golden Eagles jumped on the Vulcans early and kept the pressure on in the early game, scoring runs in each of the four innings they went to the plate to build up an eight-run advantage at the end of four innings.
 
Their offensive performance was matched only by Ainsley Perdicaris, who recorded her first complete game shutout in a Clarion uniform and just the second of the season for the Golden Eagles. It was the first complete game shutout in Clarion's favor since an 8-0 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on March 1 and their only such outing in conference play.
 
Perdicaris threw five innings and allowed just four total baserunners, including three hits – two infield singles and a bloop in the second inning – and one walk. She otherwise baffled the Vulcans, striking out four in five shutout innings.
 
Jordy Best gave the Golden Eagles the only runs they required in the bottom of the first inning. Alexis Valencia beat out a grounder for an infield single and Best did the rest, crushing an opposite-field two run home run over the right field fence to make it 2-0. She added onto the lead in the second inning, hitting an RBI double to deep center field to plate Kathryn O'Horo and make it 3-0.
 
Annika Smith drove in the first pair of four RBIs in the bottom of the third inning, hitting a single up the middle to bring Malina Serrano and Emily Buchleitner around to make it 5-0. She added another two-run single in the fourth inning, plating Haylie Rimmey and Delanie Davison. In between, Desi Allen hit her third home run of the season, driving a ball over the wall in center field with one out and nobody on in the fourth. With an 8-0 lead in the top of the fifth, Perdicaris retired the side in order for the win.
 
Game 2: California (PA) 9, Clarion 0
RECAP: The second game of the day was a funhouse mirror version of the first game, as this time the Vulcans piled on the runs early in the game and kept the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard. Brianna Sersevic hit an RBI single to get things going and Amarah McCutcheon followed with a two-run blast over the fence in left field, giving the Vulcans a 3-0 lead after one inning.
 
Clarion put runners on first and third with no outs in the second inning after a perfectly executed hit-and-run from Rimmey allowed Emily Buchleitner to advance to third base. The Golden Eagles were unable to cash in, though, as Annika Smith grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
 
The Vulcans scored one run apiece in the third and fourth innings to take a 5-0 lead, and the Golden Eagles only got as far as second base once more for the remainder of the game. Buchleitner hit a two-out double down the right field line in the bottom of the fourth but Clarion could not score her, and the Vulcans tacked on four more runs in the top of the seventh to clinch the win.
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