ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Purdue University Northwest softball team split their pair of games Saturday afternoon, dropping the first contest of the day, 4-0, to William Jewell before defeating Lindenwood University, 5-4 in the nightcap.
GAME 1: William Jewell 4, PNW 0
Both teams were scoreless in the first three innings of play, but the Cardinals jumped on the board in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI-double from Emily Hoover to put William Jewell ahead, 1-0.
The Cardinals extended its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, adding three run on four hits to put them ahead, 4-0.
The Pride would be closed out in the seventh inning as the Cardinals went on to earn the victory.
Mia Stevens (Wheatfield, Ind/Kankakee Valley) pitched six innings for the Black and Gold, allowing four runs while striking out two.
Madelynne Greenstreet picked up the victory for William Jewell, holding the Pride to one hit and striking out eight.
GAME 2: PNW 5, Lindenwood 4
The Pride jumped on the scoreboard early in their final game of the day, after a defensive miscue from the Lions put PNW ahead, 1-0.
Lindenwood would answer back in the bottom half of the inning to even the score at 1-1, but the Pride would regain the lead in the top half of the second inning on an RBI-double by Shailen Johnson (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) which plated Emma Hendricks (Henryville, Ind./Henryville) to go ahead, 2-1.
After the Lions evened the score at two runs a piece in the bottom of the third, Johnson drove in Tessa Steffens (Litchfield, Ill./Litchfield) and put the Pride ahead, 3-2.
Kalyn Learnard (Fairmont, Ill./Catlin) came up with a clutch 2-RBI single in the top of the seventh inning, which drove in Amanda Noblett (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) and Ashley Bravo (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) to give the Pride a 5-2 advantage.
The Lions tried to mount a comeback by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh but Mia Stevens shut them down late to earn the save and give the Pride the win.
Courtney Blackwell (Whiting, Ind./Whiting) earned her second straight victory while giving Lindenwood their first loss of the season, throwing six innings, allowing four runs and striking out two.
Steffens and Hendricks each led the Pride with a pair of hits each while Shailen Johnson and Kalyn Learnard both recorded two RBI in the victory.
PNW will wrap up the weekend with a single game against Lewis University beginning at 9 a.m. (CST). No streaming video will be available, but live stats and updates can be found on both the PNW Athletics (@pnwathletics) and PNW Softball (PNWSoftball) Twitter accounts.
