OWENSBORO, K.Y. – The Slippery Rock University softball team finished its time at the Blue Bridge Battle with an 11-3 loss to the University of Illinois-Springfield Sunday in Owensboro, Kentucky.
With the loss Slippery Rock's record moves to 0-4 while the Prairie Stars' record improves to 10-1.
SRU's efforts were led by
Mackenzie Freeman who registered one hit, one run and two RBI in three at-bats.
Arielle Brown,
Julianna Hutchinson,
Julia Montie and
Mikala Swearingen all registered a hit for Slippery Rock with Hutchinson also driving one run in as well.
Erin Gardner scored one run and
Julia Nutter drew a walk and scored once as well.
Kelsi Anderson (0-2) took the loss after yielding seven runs, five being earned, on four hits and two walks over 1.1 innings before giving way to
Chloe Sharman who allowed four runs, three being earned, on five hits while striking out two batters in 1.1 innings pitched as well.
Claire Zimmerman allowed one walk and struck out one batter without giving up a run over the final 2.1 innings.
The Rock answered a three-run first inning by the Prairie Stars with three runs of their own via Freeman hitting a two-run double followed by Freeman then scoring two batters later by way of a run-scoring single from Hutchinson.
However, Illinois Springfield scored eight runs over the next two innings while holding The Rock scoreless the rest of the game on the way to an 11-3 win in five innings.
Danielle Dennis, Carley Chovances, Jillian Mathis and Kelsie Burrows highlighted the USI offense combining to go 8-for-11 with eight RBI and seven runs scored.
Courtney Blackwell (1-0) allowed three runs on three hits over three innings before giving way to Kayana Diederich who allowed no runs on two hits while striking out two batters over the remaining two innings.
Slippery Rock travels to Glenville State College March 5-6 for back-to-back doubleheaders. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m. on both days.
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