HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The West Liberty University softball team split a pair of games here Saturday as the Charger Chillout Tournament, hosted by the University of Alabama-Huntsville, continued at the Huntsville Sportsplex.
    Coach Herb Minch Hilltoppers (2-2) rolled to an 8-1 victory against Union (Tenn.) in the first game of the day before dropping an 11-2 verdict to powerful Delta State (Miss.) later in the afternoon.
    In the opener, West Liberty broke up a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning by batting around to push six runs across the plate. That proved to be more than enough offensive support for ace righthander Makenzie Amend, who turned in her second double-digit strikeout performance in as many days with 10 whiffs in another complete-game win.
    Batterymate Kat Donzella had a big game at the plate against the Bulldogs (3-4), pounding out three hits and wrapping up the scoring with a two-run blast over the center field fence in the bottom of the sixth.
    Haley Collette added a double and a single and Skylar Fankhauser ripped out a two-run single. Sydney Bennington and Allie Cook each singled and drove in a run while Katie Beeman and Skylar Bogan also picked up RBIs.
    Delta State had opened the tournament on Friday with back-to-back wins against No. 13  Illinois-Springfield and No. 1 Southern Indiana and showed no mercy on the youthful Hilltoppers.
    The Stateswomen (8-1) batted around to score six runs in the top of the first and West Liberty couldn't claw its way back.
    Sydney Bennington led a 9-hit attack for WLU with a double, two singles and both RBIs. Donzella added two more base knocks and Audrey Meloun delivered a double.
    West Liberty closes out the Charger Chillout with two more games on Sunday. The Hilltoppers get things started against host Alabama-Huntsville at 11 a.m. before bringing down the curtain with a 1 p.m. game against West Alabama.
  Union                             000 010 0 – 1  8  2
West Liberty                 006 002 x – 8  8  0
     WLU: Amend wp (10SO, 4W) and Donzella. Donzella HR, 2S, 2rbi; Collette D, S; Fankhauser S, 2rbi; S.Bennington S, rbi; Cook S, rbi; Beeman rbi; Bogan rbi
     UU: Morriss lp (4SO, 4W), Manley (3) (5SO, 2W) and Pickens. Ward 3S; Page 2S; Smith D; Manley S, rbi
  Delta State                   601 022 – 11  11  1
West Liberty               100 010 –    2    9  2
     DSU: Sandridge wp (3SO, 1W) and Vice. Vice 3S; Johnson 2S, 2rbi; Byrd HR, 2rbi; Picou S, rbi; Jones S, rbi
     WLU: Paterson lp (3SO, 1W), Bonnett (4) (0SO, 1W), T.McConnell (6) (1SO, 1W) and C.McConnell, A.Meloun (6). S.Bennington D, 2S, 2rbi; Donzella 2S; A.Meloun D