(St. LOUIS, Mo., April 21)- The McKendree University softball team fell in game one, 6-1, but bounced back with a win in game two, 3-1, to close out its American Midwest Conference regular season schedule with a split at Missouri Baptist University. McKendree earned the No. 3 seed in the AMC Tournament and official brackets will be announced on Monday, April 25th.

The Bearcats are now 24-19 overall and are scheduled to host two games on Friday, April 22nd. McKendree will face Benedictine University-Springfield at noon, before facing Harris-Stowe State University in a non-conference game at 4 p.m.

The Spartans took advantage of the Bearcats' offensive sluggishness in the first game, and led 6-0 heading into the seventh inning, while allowing no hits from McKendree. Sophomore Dana Schulte (New Baden, Ill., Wesclin) led off the inning with a single and senior first baseman Cathy Webb (Mascoutah, Ill., Mascoutah HS) followed with a double to place two runners in scoring position. Freshman outfielder Caitlin Stredde (Elgin, Ill., South Elgin HS) reached on an error to load the bases with one out, and an RBI single by senior outfielder Jamie Corbier (O'Fallon, Ill., O'Fallon Township HS) scored Schulte to make the score 6-1, but ended the game on a strikeout one batter later.

Junior pitcher Autumn Allen (Fairview Heights, Ill., Belleville East HS) fell to 14-6 overall with the loss, striking out three and giving up four earned runs.

After trailing 1-0 for 3.5 innings, the Bearcats took a 2-1 lead on a two-run home run by sophomore catcher Emily Mouyard (Johnson City, Ill., Johnson City HS) and extended their lead to 3-1 on an RBI double by freshman shortstop Kendyll Koester (Lebanon, Ill., Lebanon HS).

Junior pitcher BethAnn Swartz (Urbana, Ill., Urbana HS) only surrendered one hit over the final three innings to earn her eighth win of the season. Mouyard and Koester each had two hits in game two, with Mouyard having two RBI and one run scored.