Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire were unable to play the role of spoiler in a doubleheader loss against Cornell College at home on Saturday.

The Rams needed two wins to stay in the race for the second berth in the Midwest Conference Tournament from the South Division.  Cornell defeated the Prairie Fire 14-0 and 10-5 to remain one game behind second place Illinois College in the division standings.

Both Cornell (17-13, 8-5 MWC South) and IC (19-13, 9-4 MWC South) have 13 conference points and will play a doubleheader in Jacksonville on Sunday (April 28) at 1:00 p.m.  The Lady Blues can secure a spot in the conference tournament by splitting the doubleheader since IC holds the tiebreaker over the Rams.  Lake Forest College (17-14, 12-3 MWC South) has already qualified for the MWC Tournament and is the #1 seed from the South Division.

The losses put a damper on Senior Day at the Knox Softball Field.  The lone senior for the Prairie Fire, Jill Krippel (Plainfield, IL, Plainfield Central), was recognized – along with her parents – prior to the first game.  Krippel has played in 103 games and started 101 of them for Knox in her four-year softball career.

Cornell scored five runs in the first inning of the opening contest against Knox, which was more than enough offensive support for ace hurler Jackie Sernek.  Sernek (9-3), who went into her start with a 1.97 earned run average, no-hit Knox in five innings of work and struck out 11.  The only Prairie Fire player to reach base was junior Alyssa Bleidorn (Batavia, IL, Batavia), who drew a walk in the bottom of the fifth.

The Rams scored in every inning and finished with 15 hits, three of them home runs.

First-year pitcher Karli Shields (Naperville, IL, Neuqua Valley) was charged with the loss.  Shields (2-8) gave up eight earned runs, 13 hits, and two walks in four innings.

The second game was much closer until Cornell (17-13, 8-5 MWC South) extended a 1-0 lead in the second inning to 6-0 in the fifth. 

The Rams scored the first run of the game on a solo home run by Kari Martin off Knox starting pitcher, junior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington).  Cornell added three runs in the fourth, all on RBI singles, and two in the top of the fifth on a double and an infield error.

The Prairie Fire (6-23, 5-10 MWC South) snapped a string of 10 scoreless innings against the Rams with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.  Sophomore Claire Neri (Melrose Park, IL, West Leyden) singled in Krippel for the first run and sophomore Rhiannon Neuville (Eugene, OR, South Eugene) grounded out to score sophomore Brittney Price (Wyoming, IL, Stark County) to trim the deficit to 6-2.

Cornell stormed back with four runs in the top of the seventh, two on a home run and the others on a triple and a single, to build the lead up to 10-2.

Knox began the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back walks.  Sophomore Kayla Behrens (Moline, IL, Moline) made Rams' starting pitcher Amanda Engel pay by smacking a three-run homer, her fifth of the season, to cut the lead in half at 10-5.

Cornell brought in Sernek to relieve Engel in the circle to try to halt the Prairie Fire rally.  Sernek walked Krippel before recording a strike out and a double-play ground out to end the game.

The Rams outhit the Prairie Fire 16-6 in the finale.  Bleidorn added two hits for Knox while junior Avecena Hollingsworth (Tigard, OR, Tigard) contributed a hit and a stolen base.

Eisha (3-11) took the loss in her 10th complete game of the season for the Fire.  Engel (7-10) picked up the win after working six innings and surrendering six runs, three of them earned, six hits, seven walks, and striking out three.

Knox travels to the Quad Cities on Sunday for two games against Augustana College.  The Vikings (24-12) have won four of their last five, including a 5-1 victory in a doubleheader split at #25 ranked North Central College on Saturday.

The first game of the doubleheader between Knox and Augie begins at 1:00 p.m. at Carver Field.

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter