WHEELING, West Virginia - After a pair of Senior day victories against Waynesburg, the Salem softball team did not have much time to rest on their laurels ahead of their next set of contests on Thursday afternoon. The Tigers headed up to Wheeling to take on the Cardinals in an afternoon twinbill today, and ended up with a split. Each game played out as follows:

Salem 9, Wheeling 3

In Game 1, the Tigers opened things up in the second inning with a pair of RBI singles from Kylie Zinn and Karen Hogan, Brooke Wise then hit into a fielder's choice that brought home Zinn to put Salem ahead 3-0. In the 4th, Karmen Hogan then added 2 more RBIs with a double, and a Wheeling error off the bat of Brooke Wise put Salem up 6-0. The Cardinals put themselves on the board in the bottom of that 4th inning, but Salem responded in the 5th with a Kyleigh Cook 2 RBI single in the 5th. Wheeling again added another run in the 5th, but Salem put the bow on the Game 1 win with a Kylie Zinn RBI double in the 7th. The Cardinals added a final in on the bottom of the 7th, but the Tigers pulled away with the 9-3 victory. In the pitcher's circle, Kendall Lemley earned her 15th win of the season with 7 strong innings of work and 3 strikeouts in the contest.

Wheeling 4, Salem 3

In the second contest, the game opened with both teams playing well defensively. The Tigers opened the scoring when Bella Ortiz drew a walk with the bases loaded to put Salem up 1-0. Wheeling stormed back with 3 runs in the 5th and 6th, and Salem needed one last rally to get back into the contest. Salem found just that when Jazmyn Moetului hit into a fielding error for the Cardinals that brought home Brooke Wise. Abigail Harki then knotted up the game when she hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Kendall Lemley to knot the game up at 3-3. Unfortunately, the Salem rally died there and disaster struck in the bottom of the 7th when Wheeling sealed the win with a walk-off double. Pitcher Franchesca Alvaro had a solid outing despite the loss with 6.2 innings of work and 4 strikeouts. 

The Tigers will get back on the diamond this weekend as they are set to take on the West Liberty Hilltoppers on April 26th at 1 PM.