LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine softball team split its third straight doubleheader on Friday, defeating Missouri S&T 3-2 in the opener but falling 3-1 in game two in Great Lakes Valley Conference action today at Knights Field.
 
Junior Sabrina Fussenegger led the Knights to a victory in the first game with her arm and her bat.
 
Getting the start in the circle, the right-hander went the distance, giving up just five hits while issuing just two free passes—walking one and hitting another batter. Ironically it was those two batters that scored the two Miner runs. 
 
With the bat, Fussenegger provided the eventual game-winner with her first homer of the season and just the second of her career. When she stepped to the plate with two outs in the fifth, the game was tied at two apiece, and Fussenegger soon found herself behind in the count 0-2. However, she stayed aggressive and on the next offering, she smoked a line drive down the left field line. The distance was never in doubt, but fans wondered, 'was it high enough, and was it straight enough?'  It didn't take long to the get the answers as the ball sailed just to right of the fair pole and about three feet above the fence.
 
From there, Fussenegger allowed just one S&T baserunner as Bellarmine hung on for the 3-2 win.
 
Bellarmine had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Grace Werner led off with a grounder that the S&T pitcher couldn't handle, and the Knights made it a costly error.  Werner swiped second base, and Hannah Webb promptly singled up the middle to give Bellamrine an early 1-0 lead.
 
Again in the third inning Werner and Webb combined to produce a run.  Werner again reached on an error.  This time Webb laid down a sacrifice bunt that the Miner catcher fielded cleanly but air mailed she throw to first.  By the time Missouri S&T right fielder Olivia Young ran down the ball, the speedy Werner had scored all the way from first.
 
In the second game, the Knights had a tough time getting to Missouri S&T pitcher Avery English as Bellarmine went hitless over the first four innings.  Finally in the fifth, the Knights got something going, but a bit of bad luck erased a bases-loaded situation when a line drive to right turned into an inning-ending double play. 

Meanwhile, Bellarmine's Sydney Oskin was having a solid outing in the circle, keeping the Miners off the scoreboard until the fifth inning when they scored two runs on two hits.  Then, in the top of the sixth, the Miners' Gretchen Egly extended the lead to 3-0 with a smash over the wall in left.
 
The Knights' lone run came in the bottom of the sixth when Rachel Ayer hit the first pitch she saw out of the park.  Bellarmine managed just four total hits in the game as Missouri S&T came back and salvaged the split.
 
Bellarmine remains one game under .500 at 19-20 on the season and moves to 8-10 in GLVC play.  The Miners leave Knights field with a 13-25 overall record and a 7-9 mark in league play.
 
The Knights are back in action tomorrow, hosting Drury in a noon doubleheader.
 
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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
 
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)