ELKINS, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team split a Mountain East Conference record with Davis & Elkins in Elkins here Friday afternoon.
    Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (22-14-1, 12-5) rallied for a 7-3 win in the finale after seeing the host Senators (17-22, 13-7) slug their way to an 8-3 nod in the opener.
    After the first game loss, the Black and Gold found themselves on the short end of a 3-1 deficit heading into the fifth inning of the nightcap before the WLU bats rumbled to life.
    West Liberty scored three runs on the top of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead and went on to add another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to salvage the split.
    Makenzie Amend worked the first five innings to win her 10th straight decision. The two-time MEC Pitcher of the Week gave up a three-run homer in the bottom of the third but surrendered only one other hit and finished with eight strikeouts. Annie Paterson came on to earn the save with two innings of scoreless relief.
    Paterson led a 10-hit attack at the plate with a double, two singles and an RBI. Amend helped her own cause with two singles and an RBI while Avery Becker singled twice and scored a run. Riley Bennington doubled and drove in a run while Jairika Baylor had a single and two RBIs.
    In the opener, the Senators jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings before putting the game away with a four-run uprising in the bottom of the fifth.
    Baylor homered and singled for West Liberty while Kayla Mancuso added a pair of singles. Katie Beeman and Anna Welsh had RBI singles and Grace Swigart and Makayla Blair doubled in a losing cause.
    West Liberty travels to Buckhannon, W.Va. on Saturday for an MEC doubleheader with West Virginia Wesleyan. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
  West Liberty                          100 000 2 - 3  9  1
Davis & Elkins                        121 040 x - 8  9  2
     WLU: Bennington lp (2SO, 3W), Bonnett (4) (1SO, 1W), Paterson (6) (3SO, 0W) and M.Blair. Baylor HR, S, rbi; Mancuso 2S; Beeman S, rbi; Welsh S, rbi; Swigart D; M.Blair D
     D&E: Willis wp (2SO, 2W) and Holt. Gutierrez 2HR, 2rbi; Mendoza HR, S, 2rbi; Jones 2S, rbi; Allard D, rbi
  West Liberty                          001 031 2 - 7  10  0
Davis & Elkins                        003 000 0 - 3    3   2
     WLU: Amend wp (8SO, 1W), Paterson (6) (3SO, 0W) and M.Blair. Paterson D, 2S, rbi; Amend 2S, rbi; Becker 2S; Bennington D, rbi; Baylor S, 2rbi
     D&E: Hile lp (2SO, 2W), Evans (7) (0SO, 0W) and Holt. Allard HR, S, 3rbi