Laura Fox drove in three and
Kristen Coffay tossed a complete game to help the Pitt-Johnstown softball team earn a 6-5 win over Clarion in Saturday's first game of a PSAC Western Division doubleheader at V.E. Erickson Complex. The Golden Eagles took the nightcap, 14-1 in six innings, to secure the split. The Mountain Cats are now 3-9 overall and 3-7 in conference-play.
In game one, The Mountain Cats built a 6-0 lead after three innings, then held off the Golden Eagles, 6-5
Pitt-Johnstown loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second and was able to come up with a run after
Carly Santillo doubled and scored from third on Fox's walk.
The Mountain Cats loaded the bases again in the third and tacked on five more runs.
Tori Radvan led off with a walk and scored on
Bree Ginther's base hit to
right, and Coffay's sacrifice fly foul out plated
Kristie Radvan, who also walked to make it 3-0. After Hailee Markee drew a walk to reload the bases, Fox singled home Santillo and Ginther, before
Ali Belgiovane was hit with a pitch with the bases that allowed Markee to score.
Clarion answered with five in the top of the fourth. RBI singles from Hannah Norton and Beka McClymonds, an RBI double from Chelsea Liroff, and Brooke Cline's two-run single narrowed the gap to 6-5.
However, Coffay, who got the start in the circle for the Mountain Cats, bounced back and held the Golden Eagles scoreless over the final four innings to earn the complete game and improve to 2-3. Coffay allowed five runs on 10 hits, while striking out five and walking one.
Santillo went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, while Ginther singled twice, drove in one and scored one for Pitt-Johnstown. Fox had a base hit and three RBI, and Belgiovane added an RBI.
In game two, Clarion climbed out to a 4-1 lead, before breaking it open with 10 runs, including eight unearned runs, over the final two innings.
Olivia Porter tripled down the line to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on Belgiovane's ground ball that was misplayed by Clarion second baseman Nicole Collins to put Pitt-Johnstown on top early.
Clarion quickly took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second on Brooke McCanna's two-run single, and a Mountain Cat fielding error that allowed McCanna to score from second.
Carissa Giordano's sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth made it 4-1, before the Golden Eagles added four more in the fifth, including Rebecca Kelley's two-run homer to left-center off of Pitt-Johnstown reliever
Tori Radvan, to increase it to 8-1.
Six more unearned runs in the top of the sixth built Clarion's lead to 14-1.
Porter tripled and singled and
Kristie Radvan had a double for Pitt-Johnstown. Santillo and Ginther also had base hits for the Mountain Cats.
Alyssa Hileman started in the circle for Pitt-Johnstown and took the loss to fall to 1-4 after surrendering four runs (3earned) on eight hits in four innings.
With the split, Clarion is now 4-10 overall and 2-8 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown will wrap-up the four-game PSAC series against the Golden Eagles on Tuesday in Clarion, before visiting Millersville for a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday. The Mountain Cats will then host a PSAC doubleheader against Mercyhurst at V.E. Erickson Complex on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
