FAIRMONT, W.Va. – West Liberty freshmen Anna Paterson and Taylor Bonnett teamed up on a no-hitter and the WLU softball team split a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at Fairmont State on Saturday.
    Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (16-11, 8-2) dropped a 2-0 heartbreaker to the Falcons (13-11, 7-3) in the first game before coasting to a 3-0 win in the finale behind the two freshman hurlers.
    Paterson, a hard-throwing lefthander from Salem, Ohio, held the hosts hitless through the first six innings of the second game. She hit two batters but didn't issue a walk and had 3 strikeouts.
    Bonnett, a righthander from Poca, W.Va., worked the seventh to earn the save. She allowed a one-out walk but closed out the gem with an infield grounder and a strikeout.
    The Hilltoppers were held to just four hits but made the most of them.
    Allie Cook and Kate Meloun opened the top of the third with back-to-back singles and Sydney Bennington cleared the bases with a 3-run bomb over the centerfield fence to provide all the offense West Liberty needed to salvage the split.
    Bennington also had WLU's other hit in the contest, a leadoff single in the top of the sixth.
    In the opener, a walk, a hit-by-pitch and an error in the bottom of the second gave Fairmont an early 2-0 lead without benefit of a hit and West Liberty never got a runner past second base.
    The Falcons never threatened again as Makenzie Amend and Riley Bennington teamed up in the circle for a one-hitter. The duo combined for 5 strikeouts and 5 walks with Amend taking the hard-luck loss after working the first 3 1/3 frames.
    Jada Simon rolled a ground ball through the right side of the WLU infield to lead off the sixth, breaking up the Hilltoppers' no-hit bid and accounting for the Falcons' only hit of the afternoon.
    The Black and Gold had their chances down the stretch but couldn't come up with the big hit.
    Cook doubled to lead off the sixth for West Liberty but was stranded at second when FSU hurler Hannah Absalom retired the next three hitters in order.
    A Haley Collette single and an infield error put the tying runs on base for the visitors with one out in the seventh but Absalom got the final two outs on a strikeout and pop up to complete the shutout.
    The WLU women head to the Eastern Panhandle on Sunday to take on Shepherd in a battle of the MEC's two North Division frontrunners. First pitch in the twinbill is set for 1 p.m.