Softball | 3/29/2013 9:11:00 AM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Wheeling Jesuit Thursday afternoon by scores of 9-1 and 5-3 in a mutual West Virginia Conference opener at the WLU Softball Complex.
    Maggie Starr got Coach Jim Bacca's Hilltoppers (7-17, 0-2) off to a flying start in the opener with a solo home run in the bottom of the first but that was just about all the offense West Liberty could muster as the Cardinals (9-13, 2-0) took the lead with three runs in the third inning and put the game out of reach with five more tallies in the top of the fourth.
    Wheeling Jesuit took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth in the second game but the Hilltoppers refused to go away quietly.
    Felicia Hulslander and Stacy Sumner banged out RBI doubles to put the hosts on the board and West Liberty got two more runners in scoring position with two out only to see the Cardinals get out of the inning with no further damage.
    Sumner added a solo homer with two out in the bottom of the sixth but it was too little, too late to help the Hilltoppers avoid the sweep. Jenn Young also had a pair of hits in a losing cause.
    West Liberty hits the road on Tuesday for a 2 p.m. twinbill at West Virginia State.
 
SOFTBALL
Wheeling Jesuit 9, West Liberty 1
Wheeling Jesuit             003 51 – 9  8  0
West Liberty                  100 00 – 1  5  3
    WJU: Nichols wp (2SO, 1W) and Ice. Tharp D, 2S, 2rbi; Jusko S, 2rbi; Berger S, 2rbi
    WLU: Emerich lp (3SO, 2W), Johnson (1SO, 1W) and Sumner. Starr HR, S, rbi
 
Wheeling Jesuit 5, West Liberty 3
Wheeling Jesuit        004 100 0 – 5  6  0
West Liberty             000 201 0 – 3  6  1
    WJU: Nichols wp (2SO, 0W) and Ice. Reddick 2S, rbi; Vuljanic HR, 2rbi; Tharp D, rbi; Berger D, rbi
    WLU: Creamer lp (0SO, 2W), Emerich (3SO, 2W) and Burke. Sumner HR, D, 2rbi; Young 2S; Hulslander D, rbi