The Shippensburg University softball team posted a split on a warm Monday in Florida, defeating Clarion by a score of 12-9 in eight innings and falling to Southern New Hampshire by a score of 6-3. Games were played at the Diamondplex in Winter Haven.
 
Shippensburg (3-4) totaled 21 hits on the day, including five that went for extra-bases, and drew 11 walks. The Raiders struck out just three times, and only once swinging. Eight Raiders finished with multiple hits.
 
Junior Hannah Marsteller was 4-for-8 with a home run, double, two walks and three RBIs. Senior Morgan DeFeo had three singles, a walk, a sacrifice fly and two RBIs.
 
Freshman Katelyn Minney impressed in the lower third of the Raider order by reaching base six times on the day. She was 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs, three walks and a stolen base.
 
Shippensburg returns to action Wednesday with games against Chestnut Hill and Upper Iowa.
 
Shippensburg 12, Clarion 9 (8 innings)
 
A seesaw affair featured 26 combined hits, 15 combined walks, eight combined errors and 28 runners left on base in addition to the 21 runners that did cross the plate.
 
Shippensburg scored five times in the second inning, highlighted by a two-run homer by Marsteller, but Clarion (1-12) responded with two runs in the bottom of the second and four more in the third to take a 6-5 lead.
 
SU regained the lead in the fourth with three runs; a bases-loaded walk by junior Taylor Radziewicz and a two-run double by senior Hannah Johnson put the Raiders ahead 8-6. An RBI-single in the top of the seventh by sophomore Alyssa Nehlen made it 9-6.
 
The Golden Eagles were down to the last out in the bottom of the seventh and got a single, an error, and a three-run homer to send the game into extra innings. The Raiders scored three in the eighth, with runs coming on a sacrifice fly by DeFeo, an RBI-single by sophomore Morgan Lindsay and an RBI-single by Marsteller.
 
Sophomore Emma Flattery threw the final 5.1 innings for the win for Shippensburg, allowing only the three unearned runs in the seventh. Redshirt-sophomore Maddie Uschock got the start and threw 2.1 innings, and junior Hannah Palinkas faced five batters in relief before Flattery entered in the third.
 
Southern New Hampshire 6, Shippensburg 3
 
The longball proved decisive in the nightcap, as Southern New Hampshire hit a three-run home run in the fifth and a solo homer in the sixth to account for four of their six runs.
 
Shippensburg got a run in the fifth on an RBI-single from DeFeo and two in the sixth thanks to RBI-hits by freshman Emma Mackulin and Minney, but the Raiders left nine runners on base, including five in the final three innings.
 
DeFeo was 3-for-4 against the Penmen, while Marsteller was 2-for-4 and Minney was 2-for-2 with a walk.
 
Sophomore Maelynn Leber got the start and faced nine batters, with Palinkas throwing the final 4.2 innings out of the bullpen.