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Grinnell, IA – The Prairie Fire continued their recent offensive surge in a Midwest Conference South Division doubleheader sweep at Grinnell College on Saturday.

Knox downed the Pioneers 14-6 in the opening game before completing the sweep with a 22-1 victory in five innings in the finale.  The Prairie Fire own an eight game winning streak against Grinnell dating back to the 2010 season.

The 22 runs scored by Knox ranks as the most against an NCAA opponent in the softball program's history.  The record is 24 runs in the first game of a doubleheader against Carl Sandburg College in April of 1995.

The Prairie Fire (4-25, 2-9 MWC) finished the day with a combined 24 hits two days after scoring 16 runs and banging out 22 hits against Monmouth College.

Knox jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game one when junior Brittney Price (Wyoming, IL, Stark County) doubled down the left field line, scoring junior Rhiannon Neuville (Eugene, OR, South Eugene).

Grinnell (0-16, 0-10 MWC) plated four runs in the bottom of the second on a wild pitch, an error, and a pair of singles for a three-run advantage.

The Prairie Fire got one run back on an RBI double by senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) in the third inning. 

Knox used a five run fourth inning to reclaim the lead for good.  The first two runs scored on errors by the Pioneers.  Eisha highlighted the inning with a three-run homer, her fifth of the season, to give the visitors a 7-4 lead.

After a scoreless fifth, the Prairie Fire added on with three runs in the sixth to go up 10-4.  Price laced an RBI single to right field and first-year Kaly Davidson (Needham, MA, Needham) singled to bring in Price and Eisha.

Knox extended its lead to 14-4 in the top of the seventh.  Price drove in Eisha with a single, first-year Holly Bieber (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton) and Davidson both walked with the bases loaded to score a pair, and first-year Chelsey Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) crossed home plate on a wild pitch.

The Pioneers scored twice in the bottom of the seventh.

Eisha picked up the win in the circle for the Prairie Fire.  She worked four innings of relief and allowed two unearned runs and two hits while striking out four and walking one.

Eisha had a good game at the plate as well with two hits, four RBIs, and three runs scored.  She also walked twice.  Price added three hits, three runs batted in, and two runs scored.

Knox took control early in the second game and cruised to victory.

The Prairie Fire opened the scoring with three first inning runs.  Price was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a 1-0 lead.  Senior Alyssa Bleidorn (Batavia, IL, Batavia) scored on a ground ball to third off the bat of Howard, and an RBI single by sophomore Lorena Amarillo (Chicago, IL, Noble Street College Prep) made it 3-0.

Grinnell trimmed the Knox lead to 3-1 with an unearned run off Eisha in the bottom of the first.

Knox followed with an 11 run second inning en route to the lopsided win and doubleheader sweep.  The highlights included a two run single by Price and a double by junior Kayla Behrens (Moline, IL, Moline) that scored three.

Eisha started the second game in the circle for the Prairie Fire and surrendered only three hits after the first frame.

An RBI single by Behrens in the top of the third inning extended the Knox lead to 15-1.  Run-scoring singles by Neuville, Bleidorn and Eisha, and an error that scored Bleidorn, pushed the advantage to 19-1 through four innings.

And the Prairie Fire weren't done yet.

One of five errors on the Pioneers scored Howard for the 20th run by Knox in the top of the fifth.  Bleidorn then singled home first-year Samantha Nordstedt (Skokie, IL, Niles North) and Eisha followed with an RBI single to end the scoring frenzy.

Eisha (3-11) worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth to lock up the victory.  She earned her second win of the afternoon in the circle after giving up six hits and striking out six.

Knox matched a season-high with 16 hits in the game.

Bleidorn reached base six times with four hits and two walks to go with three RBIs and four runs scored. Behrens knocked in five runs and scored twice. Eisha had three hits, two runs batted in, two runs scored, and a pair of walks.  Price drove in four runs and scored twice while Neuville scored four times and contributed two RBIs.  Davidson added three hits, two runs batted in, and three runs scored.

The Prairie Fire will look to continue swinging the bats well at MWC South foe Cornell College (21-8, 8-3 MWC) on Tuesday.  The first game of the doubleheader between the teams starts at 4:30 pm.