CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton State College (9-11, 3-3) split a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) doubleheader with visiting Maine Maritime Academy (10-3, 4-2) Sunday afternoon, winning the opener 9-3 and dropping the nightcap 3-2 in dramatic fashion.

With the game knotted at one in the third inning, Castleton sent 12 batters to the plate, pounding out six hits to take the lead in the opener. Megan Blongy (Rutland, Vt.) led off with a slap-single through the left side of the infield, and Tori Fearon (Colchester, Conn.) reached base when her sacrifice attempt was mishandled. After Blongy and Fearon were sacrificed to second and third, senior Sarah Flore (Springfield, Vt.) smacked a two-run double down the leftfield line. Shannon Jipner (Bristol, Vt.) was then hit by a pitch, and Julie Benzenberg (Pine Bush, N.Y.) crushed a McKenszie Burke (Wells, Maine) offering off the top of the fence in right-centerfield plating Flore. With two outs in the inning, Steph Wright (Guilford, Vt.) blooped an RBI-single in front of leftfielder Casey McCloskey (Howland, Maine), and Fearon drilled a bases-loaded, two-run single into right field to finish the rally.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Leah Jackson (Holden, Maine) crushed a two-run homerun down the left field line, plating Megan Russell (Peru, Maine) who led off the inning with a bunt single. Castleton starter Taylor Lively (Greenfield, Mass.) was able to work around a two-out walk and limit the Mariners to just two runs. Jipner then answered with a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the inning to push the lead to six, and the Mariners went quietly in the seventh giving Lively her fifth win of the season.

Lively (5-5) finished the complete-game win allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk, while striking out three. Burke took the loss, allowing eight runs (four earned) on 10 hits while striking out one.

Flore finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored, and Jipner was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and one RBI. Jackson led the Mariners with a 1-for-3 day, one run and one RBI and Burke added an RBI-single.

In the nightcap, Emily Sweeney (Weare, N.H.) and McCloskey dueled through five innings of scoreless softball before the Mariners broke through for a single run in the sixth.

Sophomore Sabrina Keach (Chesterville, Maine) reached with a one-out infield single and Burke followed with a single to right field. Fearon struggled to find the grip on the ball in the outfield, and Keach was able to scamper home before Burke was retired trying to reach second. Castleton answered right back in the bottom half of the inning as Flore blooped a single into left field, and Jipner drilled the first pitch she saw over the left field fence for a 2-1 Spartan lead.

Castleton called on Lively (5-6) for the save in the seventh, and she retired the first two batters with ease, on a strikeout and groundout. Russell then reached on an error, and Brittany Hunt (Hickory, N.C.) worked a two out walk. A failed pick-off attempt moved both runners up, and Castleton elected to walk Jackson to load the bases. Mallery Stanley (Standish, Maine) then smacked a Lively offering just through the hole in the left side to plate both Russell and Hunt.

McCloseky (4-2) was able to set the top of the Spartan lineup down in order in the bottom of the inning to earn the complete-game victory. The sophomore scattered five hits, and walked four allowing two earned while striking out 12. Sweeney did not figure into the decision pitching six innings allowing one unearned run, scattering five hits, and walking one while striking out two.

Castleton will host Plymouth State on Tuesday at 3:30 in a non-conference doubleheader that was originally scheduled to be on the road, but was moved due to unplayable conditions at Plymouth.

Maine Maritime is at Colby for a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 4 pm.