LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bellarmine softball showed a ton of heart on Saturday as the Knights wrapped up the Bellarmine Softball Classic, tallying its second win of the season over Western Illinois while battling into extra innings with Northern Kentucky at Legacy Fields.
The Knights (2-12) opened the day with a great team effort, defeating Western Illinois 6-0 for their second win of the season. The victory is Bellarmine's first shutout since a 2-0 win over Bethune-Cookman on March 1, 2025 at the Make It Happen Games.
In the second game, BU battled going into extra innings against Northern Kentucky, but came up just short, falling 3-2 in the eighth.
Bellarmine opened the scoring against WIU in the third inning, putting the first run on the board thanks to an RBI triple from freshman
Jayla Manning. The Knights added a second run in the frame on a dropped fly ball by the Leathernecks.
Freshman
Lily Jones got the Knights going again in the fourth when she roped an RBI double as a pinch hitter. Sophomore
Lauren Guthrie kept the offense going with a hot single through the right side, bringing home two more runs. The Knights took advantage of a wild pitch in the frame to score another run, putting them up 6-0.
Sophomore
Lele Bennett was the star of the game. A transfer from Memphis, Bennett got the start for BU and never left the circle, tossing 7.0 shutout innings, surrendering just two hits in the game while collecting three strikeouts and issuing a single walk.
The Knights scored the first run against Northern Kentucky as well. In the bottom of the first, freshman
Tia Ice got a double to drop in left center field, bringing home the opening run.
Northern Kentucky evened the score in the third, scoring on an RBI single.
In the home half of the inning, junior
Nicole Waters broke the tie with a sacrifice fly.
The Norse knotted the game once again in the fifth, courtesy of another RBI single.
Going into the eighth, the game went into the international tie breaker, placing a runner on second at the beginning of each at-bat. NKU was able to get their runner over to third and in in the top of the frame before stopping Bellarmine from answering again, stealing the game 3-2.
Up next, Bellarmine will head to Maderia Beach, FL for a five-game weekend at the Make It Happen Games, taking place February 27 to March 1.
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