Softball Defeats Knox

CARLINVILLE, IL -- Blackburn College Softball picked up an 8-1 victory over Knox College Tuesday night. 

The teams were even through the first two innings, but the Beavers took a lead in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Breana Allen hit a triple and scored when sophomore Kenadee Frey hit into a sacrifice fly. 

BC added two more runs in the fourth with a two run homer from senior Grace Mackey. Freshman Mailee Schoen also scored after getting on base thanks to a Knox error. 

The Praire Fire scored in the fifth but Blackburn answered with five more runs. Junior Zoe Mitchell got on with a single and then reached third after another Knox error that put junior Caroline Gibson on second. Schoen hit a sacrifice fly to score Mitchell and Mackey singled which scored Gibson. Junior Brianna Melchor followed with a triple allowing Mackey to score. 

Sophomore Sierra Hiser was next and her ball to the outfield allowed Melchor to score and put her on second thanks to an error. The scoring ended after sophomore Kailynn Kruep singled to score Hiser, putting the team up 8-1. 

Senior pitcher Shelby Koenig continued her success with a total of 11 strikeouts and is now 5-2 on the season. She has now thrown 26 strikeouts over the past 11 innings and has 59 on the year. 

After a shutout top of the sixth, Frey came up first in the bottom of the inning and hit sixth homer of the season to give BC the 9-1 win. 

Mackey finished the game with two hits, two runs and three runs batted in. Her home run was the second of the season. Frey tallied two runs on two hits and two RBI's. Kruep led the team with three hits. 

The second game was in the third inning when it was halted due to lightning and anticipated rain. No make up date has been determined. 

Blackburn will return to action Saturday when they open St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play at Westminster College Saturday afternoon.