In their second day of action at the Rebel Spring Games, the Bellarmine University softball team fell victim to a mixture of elite pitching by Saginaw Valley State and their own costly errors to drop two games in Kissimmee.

Game 1
Like a broken record, the Knights(8-6) jumped on the board early in the first as Megan Murdoch connected on a two run home run to take the early 2-0 lead.

Casey Willard took to the mound for the Knights and retired the first 10 batters she faced but from there the Cardinal hit three consecutive singles and got a sac fly to plate two runs to draw even at two.

After Bellarmine's outburst in the first, Saginaw Valley's Jade Fulton retired 19 of the next 21 batters to freeze the Knights early season hot bats.

Going into extra innings, the Cardinal (4-2) broke the game open in the eighth inning as they shelled Willard for four runs capped by a three run homer by third basemen Marcy Medina. The Knights tried to rally in the bottom of the eighth, but ended the game with a groundout by Erin Sireno.

Fulton picked up the win for Saginaw Valley after going 8.0 innings giving up just two hits and striking out 12 batters, while Willard was tagged with loss, giving up five earned runs in 8.0 innings of work.

Game 2
Missed chances were the name of the game in the finale as Bellarmine fell behind early on. In the bottom of the first the Knights had runners on second and third with only one out, but Murdoch and Jordan Basham both went down to strikes before the Knights could put any runs on the board.

Saginaw Valley, which ranks just out of the NFCA Coaches Top 25 poll, made Bellarmine pay putting up runs in the first and second inning to take the early 2-0 lead.

Battling back in their usual fashion, the Knights got on the board thanks to a two-run blast by Madi Ratliff in the third inning to draw even.

But that was all the offense that the Knights could get going as the Cardinal would tack on four more runs to complete the two game sweep with a final score of 6-2. Bellarmine also committed a season high four errors that resulted in two Saginaw Valley runs.

Amanda Meyer pitched a complete game for the Knights giving up four earned runs on nine hits in the losing effort.

The Rebel Spring Games continue tomorrow as Bellarmine will take on Lake Erie College at 1:00 p.m. before playing against Northwood University at 5:00 p.m.