EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The Bellarmine Knights softball team dropped a pair of one-run games to the host Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles in a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
Game one was a pitchers' duel with USI coming out on top 1-0 while the second game was a back-and-forth affair that the Screaming Eagles won 7-6.
In the opener, Bellarmine pitcher Sabrina Fussenegger surrendered just three hits, but two came in the fifth inning when USI scored the only run of the game. The Screaming Eagles' Mena Fulton singled to open the frame and was lifted for pinch runner Jessica Tucker, who later stole second base. That steal proved to be the difference as Haley Shouse delivered a two-out double to plate Tucker.
Both of the Knights' base hits came in the second inning when Marlee Tevis and Samantha Smith smacked back-to-back singles, but the Bellarmine offense stalled from that point on as USI's Jennifer Leonhardt didn't allow another hit in recording the complete-game shutout.
The second game looked as if it were going be a blowout for Southern Indiana as the Eagles plated five runs fueled by four base hits and three Bellarmine errors in the bottom of the second.
However, the Knights scratched back with two runs in the third when Miranda Mader led off with a double and Katie Stamper and Fussenegger followed with walks to load the bases. Alexa Foster delivered a two-run single for Bellarmine, but USI escaped giving up a big inning by recording three consecutive outs.
Bellarmine then avoided a big inning by the Screaming Eagles in the home half of the third as USI recorded three singles in the inning but left the bases loaded without scoring.
The Knights opened the fourth inning innocuously with a strikeout and a ground out, but consecutive singles by Stamper, Mader and Fussenegger produced a run. After a pitching change, the Eagles could have gotten out of the inning, but an error kept the Bellarmine rally going. Then to compound the problems for USI, the Knights plated two more runs on a hit batter and a passed ball. When the dust had settled in the top of the fourth, Bellarmine had scored four times to take a 6-5 advantage.
The lead was short-lived, however. Southern Indiana came right back to knot the score 6-6 as Allison Schubert connected for a no-doubt home run to left in the bottom of the fourth.
After Bellarmine stranded a baserunner in the fifth, the Screaming Eagles came back to score the eventual game-winner in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out double by Claire Johnson.
Bellarmine managed just one more hit as Courtney Atkisson pitched effectively for USI to pick up the win in a relief effort.
The Knights fall to 10-12 overall and 1-3 in the GLVC. Southern Indiana—which isn't ranked , but is receiving votes in the coaches poll—improves to 14-9, 3-1 GLVC.
Bellarmine returns to action on Sunday with a doubleheader at McKendree. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT (noon CDT).
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HTM BOX SCORE GAME 1
HTM BOX SCORE GAME 2
