Game #1 box score
Game #2 box score
Galesburg, IL - The Prairie Fire lost both games of a Midwest Conference doubleheader against Monmouth College on Friday at the Knox Softball Field.
The Fire struggled to generate offence in the 8-0 and 11-0 setbacks, both of them in five innings. Knox (3-9, 0-4 MWC South) doesn’t play again at home until an April 18 twinbill against Augustana College.
Monmouth (12-8, 2-0 MWC) pitching held the Prairie Fire to a pair of hits in the first game while the Scots connected for eight.
Sophomore hurler Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) set the first three hitters for the Scots down in order. Knox was unable to take advantage of its best chance to score in the bottom of the first.
First-year infielder Rhiannon Neuville-Norton (Eugene, OR, South Eugene) led off with a single. Eisha singled with one out, moving Neuville-Norton to second. A groundout advanced the runners to second and third base with two out. Monmouth starting pitcher Alyssa Edler got first-year infielder Jenna Butler (Downers Grove, IL, Downers Grove North) to ground out to first, ending the Prairie Fire threat.
Edler held Knox without a hit the rest of the game.
Monmouth College scored five runs on four hits in the second for a 5-0 lead. The Fighting Scots plated two more runs in the third inning and another in the fourth, more than enough support for Edler.
The Fighting Scots jumped out to an early lead in the nightcap and never looked back. Monmouth scored two runs in the first inning, one in the third, two in the fourth, and six in the fifth inning.
Knox had three hits in the game. All five Prairie Fire hits in the doubleheader were singles.
Eisha took the loss in the circle for the hosts in the first game. Sophomore Anna Lemen (Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Country Day) was the losing pitcher in game two.
The Prairie Fire will try to rebound and snap a four-game slide on Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader against Robert Morris University-Springfield in Rochester, Illinois. The first game is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.
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