WINTER HAVEN, Fla. | The Spring Games - McKendree University softball (13-8) began its spring break trip to Florida on Saturday, where it grabbed a sweep with wins over Wayne State College, 8-5, and Dominican (NY), 5-0, before splitting the Sunday games with a win over Lake Erie, 8-4, but dropping against Minnesota-Duluth, 8-0. The Bearcats' first two days featured first-time matchups with all four opponents while they will face three more new opponents in the final two days of the tournament. McKendree takes on Saint Anselm and Northwood on March 12 before facing Southwest Minnesota State and Caldwell on March 13 to finish the spring break trip.
March 9 vs. Wayne State College
The Bearcats sought to continue their success from the Bearcat Classic, where the squad went 5-1, and did just that early and often. McKendree jumped into the lead with a three-run homer in the first by senior infielder
Olivia Stansbury, with sophomore infielder
Lauren Harris and junior infielder
Sarah Roth each rounding home. In the third inning, the Bearcats added two more runs off a home run by Harris, scoring junior infielder
Jenna Roth. The Bearcats led 5-2 following the fourth inning.
In the fifth inning, McKendree again pushed through multiple runs with Harris knocking a double to score Roth, Stansbury dropping a single to right to push Harris home, and senior infielder
Reagan Cheely firing a single which scored Stansbury. The Bearcats held off Wayne State, taking the opener in Florida on an 8-5 score.
Senior pitcher
Ellie Quaethem tallied her seventh victory of the season, striking out nine in the effort over five innings.
March 9 vs. Dominican (NY)
McKendree secured its fourth shutout of the season in its win over Dominican with junior hurler
Paige McAllister tossing five innings for the victory. Harris put the Bearcats on top in the first with a sac fly to score Roth before she blasted a triple down the right field line, scoring senior outfielder
Taylor Witges.
Stansbury drove in the final three runs of the game with two singles which brought in Harris, Witges, and Roth.
March 10 vs. Minnesota-Duluth
McKendree faced another new opponent in the Bulldogs of UMD, looking to continue its recent successes. The Bearcats struggled to get their offense going in the first-ever matchup with Duluth, recording just two hits in the contest.
McKendree held its own over the first four innings with the game being more than competitive as the Bulldogs led 2-0 until the fifth. UMD fired off six runs in the fifth to close out the game, 8-0. Harris and Witges both tallied a hit for the Bearcats while Quaethem threw four and one-third innings with five punch-outs.
March 10 vs. Lake Erie
McKendree looked to finish out the second day of play with a strong showing and did just that against Lake Erie. The Bearcats put up two runs in the bottom of the first as Harris fired a single through the right side, allowing junior utility
Heaven Lawrence and Roth to reach home. LEC took a lead in the top of the fourth, 3-2, which lasted until the bottom half of the inning when the Bearcats found three more runners reaching home to make it a 5-2 game. Three-run inning came off another huge plate appearance by Harris, who bombed a homer out to left center, against driving in Lawrence and Roth in the process.
McKendree did not look back following the lead in the fourth, adding two more runs in the fifth, to make it 7-3. LEC found one more run but Harris negated the attempt as she then sent her solo home run shot to right in the sixth inning.
McAllister got the victory in the circle, throwing a complete game while striking out six batters in the victory.
NOTES
McKendree opened its weekend with a 3-1 record against four new opponents as the Bearcats had not faced any of the adversaries in its program history.
Lauren Harris continued her impressive start to the season, hitting .636 in the first four games with 20 total bases, 11 RBIs, seven hits, six runs, and six extra-base knocks. She also recorded a slugging percentage of 1.818 and an on-base percentage of .615. Harris now sits on a six-game hitting streak with five-straight featuring an extra-base hit.
Paige McAllister went 2-0 over the weekend, throwing a complete game against LEC while finishing with an ERA of 1.75 over 12 innings pitched. She owns a five-game winning streak in the circle while allowing just five runs and striking out 21 over the course.
UP NEXT | The Spring Games
March 12 | 4:00PM ET vs. Northwood
March 12 | 6:15PM ET vs. Saint Anselm
March 13 | 9:15AM ET vs. Southwest Minnesota State
March 13 | 11:15AM ET vs. Caldwell
