Blackburn Falls in Eighth Inning

GREENVILLE, IL – The Blackburn College Softball team scored three runs in the eighth inning but it would not be enough as the Beavers fell to Greenville University 10-9 in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup. 

The Beavers scored first with three runs in the second inning. Sophomore Brianna Melchor got things started with a walk and stole second before junior Miley Kwiatkowski hit a sacrifice bunt to move her to third. Breana Allen followed with a single which let Melchor score. Freshmen Kenadee Frey and Kailynn Kruep both walked to load the bases for Julianna Tabian who singled to right field and scored both Frey and Kruep to put Blackburn ahead 3-0. 

Blackburn added three more in the third. The inning started with sophomore Zoe Mitchell hitting a single. She soon found her way to third and scored off Melchor's single to left field. Kwiatkowski followed with a bunt to get on first and advanced Melchor to second. Allen then hit a single to left field where a throwing error let Melchor score the team's second run of the inning and put Kwiatkowski on third. After a pitching change, Kwiatkowski took advantage of a wild pitch to score and put the Beavers ahead 6-0. The Panthers scored a run in the third, fourth and fifth inning, and added two in the sixth before tying the game in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to an eighth inning. 

In the extra inning, Kwiatkowski was put on second. After an out moved her to third, Frey followed with a single to score Kwiatkowski. Kruep followed with the second home run of her career to put Blackburn ahead 9-6. Unfortunately, Greenville answered with four runs in their eighth inning to take a 10-9 win. 

The second game of the scheduled doubleheader has been rescheduled to Tuesday afternoon due to rain. 

With the loss, Blackburn falls to 16-17 on the season and 5-6 in the league while Greenville improves to 26-7 overall, 7-4 in SLIAC play. The Beavers will return to action Sunday to host Mississippi University for Women in continued SLIAC play.