SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The West Liberty University softball team posted its 30th win of the season here Saturday in splitting a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at Notre Dame.
    Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (30-17, 20-8) breezed to a 6-1 in in Saturday's opener only to see the host Falcons (21-31, 9-21) rebound with a 7-2 win in the finale. This marks West Liberty's first 30-win season since the 2006 team went 36-32.
    The split kept the Black and Gold - ranked No. 4 in the Atlantic Region - locked in a tie with Shepherd for first place in the MEC North Division heading into Sunday's final day of the regular season.
    Sydney Bennington got West Liberty off to a flying start in the first game. The senior second baseman delivered a two-out RBI double and later came around to score on a throwing error to give freshman standout Anna Paterson a 2-0 lead.
    Paterson took care of the rest in the circle and at the plate. After surrendering a run on two hits in the bottom of the first, the hard-throwing southpaw shut out Notre Dame on one hit over the final six innings. She also pounded out two doubles and a single to chase home two more runs.
    Allie Cook drove in a run with a double and a single while Kate Meloun also had two hits and an RBI as eight Hilltoppers had at least one hit.
    Notre Dame got its bats going in the second game, crushing a pair of home runs and breaking up a close contest with three unearned runs.
    Kat Donzella doubled and scored a run, accounting for West Liberty's only extra-base hit. Katie Beeman had an RBI single and Kelly Mullins squeezed home a run in a losing cause.
    The Hilltoppers close out the regular season on the road Sunday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Urbana.