DECATUR, Ala. – The Bellarmine Knights softball team opened play today in the University of Alabama-Huntsville's Charger Softball "Chillout," going 1-1 with a 4-3 win over Arkansas-Monticello and falling 2-1 in extra innings to the University of West Georgia. The Knights move to 1-3 on the season.
GAME 1, BU 4, UAM 3
The Knights struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Casey Cleary, who was pinch running for Lauren Summe, scored on a single off the bat of Mariya Kobayashi.
Arkansas-Monticello tied it in the third on a solo home run by pitcher Randa Perry. The Cotton Blossoms pulled ahead by 2-1 by plating a run on three hits in the fourth. Bellarmine regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with two runs on RBIs by Emily O'Bryan and Megan Murdoch.
In top of the sixth, UAM came right back and evened the score 3-3 with a run on two hits. The Knights answered In the bottom half of the inning as Summe and Angel Zimmerman led off with back to back singles. After loading the bases, Summe was forced out at home, but Zimmerman scampered home with the eventual winning run on an error by the third baseman.
Casey Willard, who had come on in relief of starting pitcher Amanda Meyer in the top of the fifth, pitched a perfect seventh inning to preserve the win and pick up the victory.
Both teams tallied nine hits with Bellarmine led by Kobayashi with three hits. The Knights also got multi-hit games from Summe and Emma Raver.
BOX SCORE
GAME 2 UWG 2, BU 1 (8 innings)
In their second game of the day, Bellarmine found themselves in a pitchers' duel, which was eventually won by West Georgia 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Wolves struck first, scoring a run on three hits in the bottom of the first. The Knights tied it in the third inning after Lauren Hanson led off with a single and scored on a pair of UWG errors.
Neither team could break into the scoring column until West Georgia pushed a run across in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly.
Bellarmine's Kristin Gramling pitched well for the Knights but was the hard luck loser after allowing just two runs in seven and two-thirds innings of work. Hanson led the Knights offensively with a pair of hits and scoring the Knights' lone run.
BOX SCORE
