ERIE, Pa. — The Golden Eagle softball team rebounded from a three-game losing streak with a split on the road on Wednesday afternoon, taking one of two games from Mercyhurst.
Clarion took the first game by a 5-1 score before falling 11-0 in the second half of the doubleheader, with the latter game ending in five innings.
Game 1: Clarion 5, Mercyhurst 1
Clarion took the first game of the doubleheader thanks to an outstanding pitching performance from Emma Hipps, who won her ninth game of the season with a complete game. The sophomore allowed just one run in seven innings, striking out eight while walking just one to match her season total from last year.
The Golden Eagles struck first, scoring in the top of the first inning.
Emily Buchleitner hit an infield single to lead things off and advanced to second on a passed ball. She eventually stole third, and Desi Allen brought her home when she hit a ball to right field that was misplayed for an error, making it 1-0.
They tacked on in the top of the third inning, with Alexis Valencia leading off with an infield single. She stole second and third bases and eventually came around to score on an error, giving the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Kathryn O’Horo then hit a one-out double and scored on Tori Martrano’s RBI single to center field to increase the lead to three runs. O’Horo herself added an RBI double in the fifth inning to plate Valencia and make it 4-0, and Desi Allen added a run-scoring single in the seventh for an insurance run.
Hipps, meanwhile, allowed just a handful of hits through the course of the game, and did not allow multiple hits in one inning until the bottom of the fifth inning. The lone Laker run came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Bailey Cannon hit a two-out solo home run to cut the deficit to 4-1. Hipps retired Brianne Egelston and Marisa Cartellone to get out of the inning.
The Lakers had one last gasp in the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out. Hipps struck out Neena Pietropaolo for the second out of the inning and then induced a lineout from Eliza Reynolds to close out the game.
Game 2: Mercyhurst 11, Clarion 0 (5 inn.)
The Lakers got the better of the Golden Eagles in the second game of the day, scoring 11 runs in the first three innings of action and holding on to that lead for the remainder to take a five-inning win over Clarion.
Morgan Hilty threw the complete game shutout, striking out just three Golden Eagles but also holding the opposition to only three hits.
Mercyhurst scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, with both coming on a two-run single by Cartellone with two outs. The Lakers added on four runs in the bottom of the second inning, including one run on a wild pitch and a pair of runs via error to expand their advantage to 6-0.
The bottom of the third saw Mercyhurst add five more runs, including a three-run home run by Cannon to make it 11-0.
Conversely, the Golden Eagles had trouble moving runners into scoring position against the Lakers, failing to do so until Emily Buchleitner’s two-out double in the top of the third inning.
That was the only Clarion player to advance past first base as Mercyhurst starter Morgan Hilty threw a complete game shutout.
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