CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team pushed its winning streak to nine games here Saturday by taking both ends of a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at the University of Charleston.
    Coach Herb Minch's surging Hilltoppers (12-9, 6-0) won the opener by a 4-1 count before handing the host Golden Eagles (8-13, 1-5) a 6-2 setback in the second game.
    The visitors broke on top early in the first contest as Katie Beeman broke up a scoreless tie in the top of the third with a 2-out bases-clearing single, staking Hilltopper ace Makenzie Amend to a 3-0 lead.
    That proved to be more than enough breathing room for the hard-throwing sophomore, who scattered 5 singles and surrendered only one run while striking out 5 to pick up the win. Taylor Bonnett came on with two out and two on in the bottom of the seventh to get the final out and earn the save.
    Allie Cook had two singles for West Liberty and drove in an insurance run in the top of the sixth. Kat Donzella also had two hits and scored a run while Laral Saunders chipped in with a pair of base knocks.
    In the second game, West Liberty parlayed 5 hits, 2 UC errors and a pair of walks into a 5-run third-inning uprising and never looked back. An RBI triple by Donzella and a 2-run single off the bat of Kelly Mullins keyed the big inning.
    Riley Bennington pitched the first 4 1/3 innings to earn the win. Anna Paterson got the save in relief, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth with an inning-ending double play and blanking the Golden Eagles over the final two frames.
    Donzella, Sydney Bennington and Skylar Bogan all had two-hit games for WLU while Cook came through with a single and an RBI.
    The Lady Hilltoppers take their 9-game winning streak to Institute on Sunday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against West Virginia State.