Box Score 1 (LIBERTY, Mo., April 18)- The McKendree University softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader on Friday at William Jewell College, 6-3 and 8-5, in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.

The Bearcats fall to 16-24 overall and 9-17 in the GLVC with the losses and will travel to Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday, April 19 to face Rockhurst University in a GLVC doubleheader at noon.

Game one was tied, 2-2, after the first inning, but the Cardinals added runs in the second and fourth innings and McKendree was only able to cross one more run late to fall 6-3.

Junior centerfielder put the Bearcats in front, 2-0, in the top of the first with a two-run homer, but William Jewell tied the game on a double in the bottom of the frame. The Cardinals added three runs in the second inning and another run in the fourth to jump out to a 6-2 lead. McKendree cut the deficit to 6-3 in the sixth inning on an RBI single by junior designated player Lindsay Schmitz (Streator, Ill./Streator Township) that brought in Johnson from third, but left runners stranded on second and third in the seventh when they ended the game with a pop out and  ground out.

Johnson had three hits, including the home run, two runs scored and two RBI to lead the Bearcats at the plate, while junior pitcher Kelsie Stoszkus (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) fell to 6-7 overall with the loss and had five strikeouts.

William Jewell jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of game two, but the Bearcats chipped away at the deficit and tied the game, 5-5, in the fourth inning before giving up three runs in the fifth inning to eventually fall 8-5.

Freshman third baseman Hanna Branch (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) put McKendree on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, her fourth of the season, and cut the deficit to 5-3 in the third inning on an RBI double by senior rightfielder Kay Koonce (Greenville, Ill./Greenville) and an RBI single by Johnson. In the fourth inning, freshman second baseman Jamie Doggendorf (Dittmer, Mo./Northwest) hit a two-RBI single that tied the game 5-5, but the Cardinals used a three-run fifth inning to take an 8-5 lead and the Bearcats were unable to reach base in the final two innings to drop game two.

Five players had hits for McKendree in game two, while freshman pitcher Holly Magre (Festus, Mo./St. Pius X) fell to 3-6 overall with the loss.