DAHLONEGA, Ga.--- In day one action of the Loyal Blue Classic, the Bellarmine University softball team collected two impressive shutout victories as they took down Tusculum College 4-0 in the opener, then blew out North Greenville 8-0 in the second game of the day.

The two wins push Bellarmine's record to 4-1 on the young season and stretches their win streak to three with their only blemish coming against Carson-Newman in the season opener.

Game 1: Bellarmine 4 Tusculum 0
Bellarmine took the lead in the bottom of the first as Megan Murdoch lined a double down the right field line to bring home the speedy Erin Sireno from second. The Knights would tack on two more runs in the inning as Lauren Summe would tag up and score on a Madi Ratliff's foul out followed by Murdoch scoring on Abby Lenhart's double with two out.

Murdoch would record her second RBI of the game with two outs in the fifth by bringing Summe home from second on a single to right field for the 4-0 lead.

Senior Amanda Meyer(2-0) had another strong performance from the rubber, throwing 7.0 scoreless innings while giving up only four hits and striking out three. Elizabeth Johnson (0-1) took the loss for the Pioneers, giving up four runs over 6.0 innings of work.

Box Score

Game 2: Bellarmine 8 North Greenville 0
Freshman Kelsey Hicks put Bellarmine on the board in the third inning as her double to right center brought Kaitlin Morley across the plate.

Bellarmine would extend their lead to 4-0 after five innings when Murdoch sent her first homer of the season sailing over the left field fence to bring home Casey Cleary. Last season Murdoch set a single season school record by belting out 14 homers on her way to 2nd team All-Midwest Region honors.

The Knights would tack on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh inning to come away with the 8-0 win behind a balanced attack. Six players would have at least two hits including freshman Kayla Padgett and Scarlett Powers.

Alicia Miller (1-1) picked up her first win as a Knight going 7.0 full innings and giving up just two hits while registering four strikeouts. The freshman would retire eight of the first nine batters she faced and lowers her ERA on the season to 1.38.

The Knights outhit the Crusades 15-2 in the game as North Greenville could only put one runner in scoring position.

Box Score

Murdoch finished the day going 4-7 with four RBIs, three runs, and one home run. As a team, Bellarmine collected 20 hits and batted .345 over the two games, proving that they can put runners on base in bunches.


Bellarmine will wrap up play at the Loyal Blue Classic tomorrow taking on Tusculum in the morning before taking on host North Georgia in the finale.