WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team broke out the heavy artillery here Wednesday in sweeping a Mountain East Conference doubleheader from Wheeling Jesuit at the J.B. Chambers Complex in Elm Grove.
    Coach Herb Minch's surging Hilltoppers (21-14, 13-5) rolled to a 10-1 mercy-rule win over the Cardinals (6-30, 3-15) in the opener before erasing an 8-run deficit in the finale for a 12-10 victory.
    Wheeling Jesuit parlayed four hits and five walks into an 8-run first inning in the nightcap but the Black and Gold never blinked. The Hilltoppers got one run back in the top of the second and closed the gap to 8-5 with a four-run uprising in the third, thanks to Kat Donzella's two-run homer and a two-out, two-run double by Kelly Mullins.
    An RBI double by Sydney Bennington and a run-scoring single from Katie Beeman made it 8-7 in the top of the fourth but the Cardinals got something going in the bottom of the frame. Wheeling Jesuit pushed two runs across the plate to push the lead to 10-7 and had the bases loaded with two out when Minch brought Makenzie Amend in from the bullpen.
    The sophomore ace, who had thrown a complete-game two-hitter in the opener, struck out the next batter to end the threat and blanked WJU over the final 3 1/3 innings to earn her second win of the day.
    West Liberty scored two more runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 10-9, setting the stage for what proved to be a game-winning two-out 3-run double by Allie Cook in the top of the sixth.
    Beeman had three singles and scored a pair of runs while Cook picked up four RBIs with a double and single. Donzella and Kate Meloun each had two hits and scored twice while Bennington added a pair of doubles in a 15-hit barrage.
    In the first game, Amend held the hosts to just two hits in a route-going performance while her Hilltopper teammates hammered out 10 hits with half of them going for extra bases.
    Laral Saunders' two-out bases-loaded triple highlighted a 5-run first inning for the Black and Gold and they never looked back. Beeman followed Donzella's RBI double with a 3-run blast over the centerfield wall in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
    Beeman and Saunders each added singles to their extra-base knocks while Kate Meloun had a single and a double and Cook singled twice and scored a pair of runs.
    The Lady Hilltoppers head to West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.