Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (LEBANON, Ill., March 29)- The McKendree University softball team made a late rally in game two, but couldn't complete the comeback to lose both games of a doubleheader to visting Bellarmine University on Sunday.

The Bearcats fall to 10-18 overall and 2-10 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and will travel to Springfield, Ill., on Tuesday, March 31 to play University of Illinois Springfield in a conference doubleheader at 3 p.m.

McKendree couldn't get into a rhythm offensively in game one with only one hit to fall 4-0. The Knights hit home runs in the second and fourth innings on their way to the win. Kelsie Stoszkus (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) fell to 5-3 overall with the loss and had one strikeout, while Katie Nauman (Amboy, Ill./Amboy) had the lone hit in the third inning.

The Bearcats trailed 8-0 after four innings, but had a late rally come up short in a 12-6 loss in game two. McKendree trailed 8-0 with two outs in the fifth inning, but scored four runs to cut the score to 8-4. A two-out single by Rebecca Franke (Trenton, Ill./Wesclin) scored Hanna Branch (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) from third, and a bases loaded single by Kate Mayes (Collinsville, Ill./Collinsville) later in the inning brought in Franke to cute the score to 8-2. A single by Erica Johnson (New Baden, Ill./Wesclin) scored Ashley Scheffler (Elgin, Ill./Burlington Central) and Jamie Doggendorf (Dittmer, Mo./Northwest) and cut the deficit in half to 8-4. Bellarmine scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning, but McKendree would add two more runs in the bottom of the frame to cut the score to 12-6. Scheffler scored on a throwing error by the second baseman, and Mayes came in to score on a groundout by Johnson, but the Bearcats weren't able place any more runners on base to drop game two. Holly Magre (Festus, Mo./St. Pius X) fell to 0-3 overall and had two strikeouts in the loss, while Scheffler, Mayes, and Johnson each had two hits, with Johnson posting three RBI and Scheffler scoring twice.