NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Bellarmine softball ended its 12-game road stretch with a low-scoring split at Tennessee State on Wednesday evening.
In fact, it was as low-scoring as possible. The Knights took the first game 1-0, and the Tigers won the second game 1-0. The victory marked Bellarmine's second shut-out win this season and its eighth overall this year.
Game 1
In game one, BU and TSU combined for six hits, with the Knights collecting four of them. Bellarmine was on the cusp of scoring in the first inning, starting with a Grace Werner lead-off single. She then stole second and third base to move into prime scoring position. Sarah Ratterman walked with two outs, but the Knights struck out three times in the inning and came up empty.
Tennessee State's first three did not come until the third inning, the same inning that Werner reached for the second time. She advanced to third with another stolen base and throwing error, but again Bellarmine could not score her.
Bellarmine's fortunes changed in the fourth inning. Ratterman hit an infield single to shortstop, and Chloe Collins followed with a single to center field, pushing Ratterman to third base. Carson Goatley hit a ground ball to shortstop, resulting in a fielder's choice that scored Ratterman to give Bellarmine a 1-0 lead.
The Knights only produced one more hit, but they did not need it. Tennessee State did threaten, however, in the final inning. Peyton Fointno started off the seventh with a double down the left field line. Two consecutive pop-outs ensued, but Mikayla Duke kept the game alive with a hit-by-pitch with two outs. Fointno and Duke advanced on a passed ball, giving the Tigers a prime chance to tie and potentially win the game. Goatley induced a game-ending pop-up to second base, however, sealing the Bellarmine win.
Goatley allowed just two hits over seven innings in the complete game shutout – her first career complete game shut-out.
Werner ended up stealing four bases – breaking the single-game program record of three stolen bases set by Katie Wolsiefer in 2007.
Game 2
Offense was hard to come by for both teams again in game two, but the final score flipped in favor of Tennessee State.
Bellarmine pulled together three hits, but they were all spread out over different innings. Collins singled in the second inning, Greenwell singled in the third, and Ziegler singled in the seventh inning. The Knights were unable to draw any walks and produced two other base-runners thanks to Tennessee State errors.
BU's best chance to score was in the seventh inning. Webb started the inning by reaching on a throwing error from the TSU third baseman. Two batters later, Carley Ziegler singled to left field, pushing Webb to second base as the tying run. Emily O'Dee, however, flew out to left field to end the game.
Claire Lehmkuhler turned in an excellent performance, allowing just one run over six innings, while striking out three and walking one.
Caitlyn Manus pitched a complete game shut-out for the Tigers, picking up her fifth win of the season.
Bellarmine opens ASUN play this weekend, hosting a three-game series against Jacksonville starting Saturday. The first game is at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at Knights Field, followed by a second game on Saturday scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Sunday's game will begin at 1:00 p.m. All of the games can be streamed on BU Knights Sports Network.
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