PEORIA, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire softball team soundly defeated the Alverno College Inferno this Friday morning in the first game of their doubleheader, winning by a final score of 23-8 in 5 innings. The win is their first of the season, and the team looks to build momentum off of it moving forward.

Knox cruised to an early lead quickly, scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the first inning. Using solid base hits and taking advantage of fielding errors by the Inferno, the Prairie Fire batted around while looking dominant on offense. Morgan Bean was one of the many Knox players who had an outstanding day on offense, going 4-for-5 while both driving in and scoring three runs. Mimi Schweitzer had a solid start for the Prairie Fire, as well, pitching three solid innings while striking out 5. 

Alverno clawed four runs back in the top of the third inning, lighting a fire under Knox to score even more runs. That would lead to a ridiculous offensive output in the bottom of the fourth for the Prairie Fire, as the team scored 14 runs to put the game incredibly far out of reach. The team batted around twice, taking advantage of a plethora of singles and doubles to score those runs. Despite striking for four more runs the next inning, Alverno was unable to make a dent in the lead, and Knox comfortably won the game.

The Knox Prairie Fire softball team lost to the Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers this Friday by a final score of 9-0. With the loss Knox splits their doubleheader on the day, and their record on the season sits at 1-3.

With the fatigue from their long first game of the day potentially being felt, the Prairie Fire struggled to muster any offense early. A first inning double play wiped out a single by Britney Salinas, and four consecutive doubles by the Pointers in their portion of the first inning helped put Knox in a six run hole. Leila Rouhani had a respectable day on the mound for Knox, pitching all four innings and never seeming overwhelmed by the task at hand. Despite another single and some excellent plate vision by the Prairie Fire, the team was unable to drive a run across the plate, and the game ended with the lopsided score.

"We played much better today," said head softball coach Erin Rutledge. "We got the jitters out of the way last week and got to see some great things today. I am proud of the team for coming out stronger this week. Now we get back to work for our spring break trip."

Knox looks to use some extended time off to their advantage when they travel to Florida on March 15th to play both St. Scholastica and Washington College (MD.) in The Spring Games.