SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team dropped a pair of one-run nail-biters to Shepherd here Sunday afternoon in a battle of Mountain East Conference North Division frontrunners at Sara Cree Field.
    Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (16-13, 8-4) saw the host Rams (21-5, 11-1) hang on for a 3-2 decision in the first game and push across an unearned run in the eighth inning of the finale to steal a 2-1 victory.
    In the opener, Shepherd scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 2-1 WLU lead and held off the Black and Gold the rest of the way.
    West Liberty had runners on base in each of the final three innings but couldn't come up with the equalizer.
    Sydney Bennington and Katie Beeman had delivered back-to-back 2-out RBI doubles in the top of the fourth to stake the Hilltoppers to their short-lived advantage.
    Bennington was the only WLU player with multiple hits, putting a single and double in the book.
    In the second game, Katie Beeman broke up a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the top of the fourth but Shepherd tied the game with a solo home run in the fifth and neither team scored again as the game headed into extra innings.
    The Hilltoppers were retired in order in the top of the eighth but left the door open in the bottom of the frame when Nicole Purtell, the Rams' leadoff hitter, reached base on an infield error.
    Purtell moved into scoring position on a sacrifice and cleanup hitter Connor Gilligan followed with a run-scoring single to complete the sweep.
    Beeman had two of West Liberty's four hits in the game while Kat Donzella doubled and scored a run.
    The Lady Hilltoppers will try to bounce back on Wednesday when they host Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at the WLU Softball Complex.