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CLARION, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team settled for a split at Clarion Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action from Memorial Stadium.
 
The Rock's offense sputtered in a 2-1 loss in the opener, before finding its groove and firing on all cylinders in an 11-1 win in game two.
 
In the opener, the Slippery Rock offense was frustrated by Clarion's Shawnna Crago as The Rock would strand nine runners on base.
 
SRU put runners on second and third with no outs in the first, but could not plate a run in what became a trend for the game. The Rock left runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the second, third and sixth innings.
 
Slippery Rock scored its lone run in the fifth on back-to-back two-out hits from Stacey Herzog and Alaynna Beers, but could not overcome two early Clarion runs and fell to the Golden Eagles, 2-1.
 
Sophomore Carly DeRose was dealt the loss to fall to 8-10 on the season. DeRose allowed two runs on five hits and six strikeouts in six innings of work.
 
Crago (1-11) picked up her first win of the season after limiting The Rock to a run on four hits, three walks and three strikeouts over seven innings.
 
Junior Katie Kaiser went 2-for-4 to extend her hitting streak to 15 games, while Beers went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
 
In the nightcap, Slippery Rock's offense regained its form and behind a dominant outing from sophomore pitcher Sarah Petrash, The Rock cruised to an 11-1 win.
 
The Rock plated a run in the first to take an early lead, before exploding for a five-run second inning to take control of the game. Taylor Welch led off the inning with a double before SRU exploded with six hits to push the lead to 6-0 after two.
 
Slippery Rock added a run in the fourth off a RBI single from Allie Fischer, before Clarion got on the board with a solo home run from Crago that would prove to be the lone-blemish on Petrash's stat line.
 
Welch led off the seventh inning with a double, before hits from Fischer and Emily Nagle stretched the SRU lead to 9-1. Herzog capped the inning with a two-run blast to straightaway center to give Slippery Rock the 11-1 victory.
 
Petrash earned the victory after allowing one run on four hits and five strikeouts in seven dominant innings.
 
Nagle led the offense with four hits in as many at-bats with three runs and two RBI. Fischer went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and RBI, followed by Welch with three hits in four at-bats with two doubles and two runs scored. Herzog went 2-for-5 with three RBI and her team-leading seventh home run, while Beers capped the top performers with a pair of runs scored and two RBI.
 
Kaiser's consecutive-hit streak came to an end at 15 games after an 0-for-4 performance in game two.
 
With the split, Slippery Rock moves to 15-21 overall and 12-14 in PSAC action. Meanwhile, Clarion improved to 6-30 overall and 5-25 in league play.
 
The Rock returns to action Monday at Edinboro. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m.