(EAST PEORIA, Ill., April 29)- The McKendree University softball team dropped a 5-0 decision to the University of Missouri-St. Louis Friday afternoon in opening-round play at the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament is being held at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria, Ill.

The seventh-seeded Bearcats move to 25-28 on the year and will look to keep their GLVC Tournament title hopes alive in an elimination game later Friday afternoon against either the University of Southern Indiana or Bellarmine University. 

Missouri-St Louis (49-5), ranked No. 6 in the latest AFCA poll and the second seed in this year's GLVC Tournament, scratched out runs in each of the first three innings to build a 3-0 lead and put the contest out of reach with two more tallies in the sixth to account for the final runs of the game. Meanwhile, UMSL starter Hannah Perryman retired the first 16 McKendree batters before Sarah Radae broke up Perryman's perfect game with a one-out single in the sixth. Brooke Gajewski (Kronenwetter, Wis./D.C. Everest) added the Bearcats' other base hit in the contest as Perryman finished with a two-hit shutout. She struck out 17 batters in the effort. 

Holly Magre (Festus, Mo./St. Pius X) was nicked for the loss in the circle for McKendree. In three innings of work, Magre scattered seven hits and allowed three earned runs. She walked two batters and fanned three in moving to 14-12 on the season.