WHEELING, West Virginia - Fresh off their return to the Mountain State after a week down in the Florida sunshine, the Salem softball team opened up their slate of Mountain East Conference foes with a trip up to the Northern Panhandle to take on the Wheeling Cardinals. Salem got off to a great start by downing the Cardinals in Game 1, but were stung in Game 2 to earn the split. Each contest played out as follows:

Salem 6, Wheeling 5

In Game 1, Salem fell behind initially, but responded with a big 2nd inning. The scoring was started by a Meladie LaRance triple that brought in 3 runs, then Sierra Chapa and Kaydee Anderson followed that up with 2 singles that brought in another pair of runs. Wheeling stormed back to make it 5-4 in the third, but Salem added one more insurance run in the 6th inning thanks to a Alyvia Pittman RBI single. From there, it was up to the Salem pitching staff to close the door. Despite allowing one more run in the 6th, the Tigers did just that behind relief appearances from Franchesca Alvaro and Andrea Gallegos to seal the tight 6-5 win. Speaking of the pitching performance, Kendall Lemley earned the win for the Tigers, and Andrea Gallegos earned a save.

Wheeling 6, Salem 3

For Game 2, the Tigers got off to a great start by opening with a 3-0 lead. Ricki Garay got things going with a RBI single in the first, and then Kayla Williams added another RBI single in the 2nd to make it 2-0. Meladie LaRance then built on that with a double that scored Williams to bring in the 3rd run of the game. Unfortunately, the Tigers were then stung by a big Cardinal rally that added 6 runs all in the bottom of the second. Despite some solid chances, the Tigers were not able to mount a comeback rally of their own, so were sent away with the 6-3 loss to earn a split with the Cardinals. In the pitcher's circle, Andrea Gallegos went the whole way for the Tigers, and struck out a pair of Cardinals in the loss. 

Salem will continue their stay up in the Northern Panhandle tomorrow when they face off with the Hilltoppers of West Liberty at 1 PM for a doubleheader on Sunday, March 17th.