SALEM, W. Va. (April 23, 2018) — The Salem University Tigers softball team suffered its first home losses of the season, dropping two to the West Liberty University Hilltoppers at Hope Field to end its six-game winning streak. 

Game 1 — Salem 3, West Liberty 5

Salem struggled at the plate against Makenzie Amend, West Liberty's hard-throwing freshman, but got a collaborative performance between its defense and their own starting pitcher, Christine Bombardiere in Game 1.

Salem flirted with danger throughout the game, but maintained its composure, limiting damage when it occurred. The difference in the game came from a handful of plays made at opportune times—an at-bat that wasn't closed out with an advantageous count, an opportunity with runners in scoring position that fizzled out. 

All growing pains for a Salem team leaning on younger players this season.

West Liberty scored first, putting together a run off a walk, steal, and RBI single to left field from Kat Donzella with two outs in the first inning. 

Salem put to runners on in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single to left field from Casey Moritz and a one-out walk from Ariana Garcia, but failed to capitalize with back-to-back strikeouts. 

The Tigers held the Hilltoppers scoreless in the second inning on a key play from Garcia. With one out and a runner on second, Ariana fielded a grounder at third base, holding the base runner on second by holding the ball a step or two; waiting until the last moment to throw the runner out at first. 

On the next pitch, that baserunner advanced to third on a wild pitch—as opposed to scoring if she'd been on third—before the inning ended on a pop-up to Olivia Davoli at shortstop. 

West Liberty broke through in the second, scoring two runs with two outs, finding the gaps on four hits. 

Salem finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning after West Liberty replaced Amend with Katie Higginbotham in the pitcher's circle, getting a triple from Morgan Atkinson and a RBI from Garcia. 

West Liberty added a run each in the fifth and sixth inning before Salem's bats came to life in the seventh, putting together three consecutive singles to scored two runs to cut the deficit to 5-3 with two on before West Liberty put Amend back in the pitcher's circle to stop the momentum, ending the game with two strikeouts. 

Moritz, Atkinson, and Tori Butler were each 2-for-4 for Salem, getting a RBI and two runs scored from Atkinson. Hanna Crew was 1-for-4 with a RBI and Garcia was 1-for-2 with RBI. 

Game 2 — Salem 0, West Liberty 9

Amend returned to the pitcher's circle for Game 2, pitching a complete game, one-hit shutout while Salem committed four errors and walked six batters, giving West Liberty nine runs on six hits. 

With the losses, Salem fell to 13-23 while West Liberty improved to 19-21. The final scheduled game is April 25 against the University of Charleston at Hope Field at 2 p.m.