ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Senior first baseman
Kelsey Clever tripled and homered and Eastern University Softball pounded out nine hits in the opener, but it proved not to be enough as the Eagles dropped both games of their home doubleheader against Penn State Harrisburg. An unearned run in the sixth inning proved to be the difference in a 4-3 loss in the opener. The visiting Lions scored five times int he fifth inning of game two to claim a 10-2 run-shortened game.
The Eagles and Lions both entered today's games looking to snap extended losing streaks. The Eagles scored first after Clever legged out a sliding two-out triple to center in the second inning. She blasted an 0-2 pitch to the fence and beat the throw to third. The three-base hit was her first and the team's first of the season. The extra effort on the bases paid off as
Leah Lozzi ripped a ball deep into the hole that the Lion shortstop kept on the infield. Clever scored easily from third on the infield hit.
The Lions took the lead with a two-run third before Clever answered with another two-strike hit over the left field fence. Megan Johnson had reached on a bunt single. Clever's blast was her first of the year and the eighth of her career. The Lions scratched out a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to retake the lead. Sam Albertson singled with one out in the seventh, but the Eagles were unable to move her around for the tying run.
The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on a double and a prodigious home run at the end of a 10-pitch at bat by first year catcher Dominique Emmett.
Eastern manufactured a run after Albertson led off the third with a single. The junior centerfielder stole second and moved to third on a Maddie Iswalt ground ball. Clever drove in her third run of the afternoon with a ground ball out to the right side.
PSU-Harrisburg scored twice int he fourth and then scored five runs on four hits and an error in the fifth to build a 10-1 lead.
Alyssa Bolger poked a single down the left field line to start the fifth. She scored the final run of the game on a ground ball double down the left filed line from Clever. The Eagles needed one more hit to extend the game past the fifth inning, but
Jess Snader's hard ground ball was right at the shortstop.
Clever finished the day 4-for-6 with 4 RBI's. Albertson also had four hits.
The Eagles (3-21) will return to MAC Freedom action on Thursday at home against DeSales.
