RICHMOND, Va. – The West Liberty University softball team swept a non-conference doubleheader from Virginia Union Monday afternoon at Panther Park.
    Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (6-8) pounded out 22 hits and got a pair of impressive pitching performances in winning by scores of 10-4 and 8-0.
    In the second game, Hilltopper ace Makenzie Amend simply overpowered the home-standing Panthers (3-3). The hard-throwing righty fanned 8 of the first 9 batters she faced and went on to spin a 2-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts and only one walk.
    The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when West Liberty exploded for five runs. Grace Swigart launched a 3-run homer in the seventh to complete the scoring.
    Swigart had a big game, driving in four runs altogether with a double and home run. Sidney Little singled twice and drove in a run while Jairika Baylor added an RBI single and Annie Paterson doubled.
    The Hilltoppers found themselves on the short end of a 3-0 tally heading into the fourth inning of the first game before the WLU bats rumbled to life. West Liberty got on the board with a single tally in the top of the fourth before pouring it on with nine more runs over the last three innings to win going away.
    Taylor Bonnett got the win with 5 1/3 innings of sparkling relief. Bonnett came on with two out in the bottom of the first and held Virginia Union to just four hits and one unearned run the rest of the way while striking out 8 against just one walk.
    The Hilltoppers raked out 14 hits with nearly half of them going for extra bases. Baylor drove in two runs with a homer and a single while Riley Conkle chased home two more with a single and double. Little had another multi-hit game with two singles and an RBI while Beeman weighed in with a double and a single and Kayla Mancuso stroked out a pair of hits.
    Anna Welsh had an RBI double and Kieran Johnson singled in a run for the Hilltoppers.
    On the rebound after a tough start, the resurgent Black and Gold cane get back to the .500 mark on Tuesday with a non-conference doubleheader at Shepherd.
  West Liberty                     000 134 2 - 10  14  1
Virginia Union                  120 000 1 -   4    7  2
     WLU: Paterson (2SO, 2W), Bonnett wp (8SO, 1W) and M.Blair, McCroskey (7). Baylor HR, S, 2rbi; Conkle D, S, 2rbi; Little 2S, rbi; Beeman D, S; Mancuso 2S; Welsh D, rbi; Johnson S, rbi
     VUU: Tiscareno lp (3SO, 3W), Lowe (6) (1SO, 0W), Moroch (7) (0SO, 0W) and Tino. Burford 2S, rbi; Mulero S, 2rbi
  West Liberty                     000 005 3 - 8  8  0
Virginia Union                  000 000 0 - 0  2  2
     WLU: Amend wp (14SO, 1W) and M.Blair. Swigart HR, D, 4rbi; Little 2S, rbi; Baylor S, rbi; Paterson D