JACKSONVILLE, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire softball team lost to the Illinois College Lady Blues 9-0 and 8-0 on Wednesday afternoon. With both of the day's losses, their season record sits at 1-16.

The Prairie Fire played a clean first inning defensively in game one, holding off a two out triple two keep the Lady Blues off the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Illinois College proceeded to get on base and started to drive in runs, playing small ball in the second inning and making the game 1-0. Knox was unable to muster much offensively, only having two singles to their credit on the day. Three Lady Blue runs in the third inning and five in the fourth put a lot of space between them and the Prairie Fire, and when the team was unable to score a run in the fifth inning, the game ended.

Knox got off to a promising start in the first inning of game two, as Maddie Poetzinger hit a two out double and advanced to third before a Prairie Fire strikeout ended the frame. While Mimi Schweitzer pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the inning, the Prairie Fire offense was again unable to provide any support for their pitching. The Lady Blues pushed across a single run in the second and three in the third, although three Knox errors contributed to the offensive output of Illinois College. Schweitzer had one of her betting pitching performances of the season today, letting up five earned runs and striking out two. This was not enough to keep the Prairie Fire in the game, however, and they lost as a result.

Poetzinger finished the day with two hits for Knox to lead the team.

"IC is a really good team," said head coach Erin Rutledge. "We played with them for a bit longer in game two, but overall we need to bounce back from these games and play tough games in conference the rest of the season."

The Prairie Fire will attempt to get back on track when they host Lake Forest College this Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.