The Prairie Fire softball earned a Sunday split with Harris-Stowe. Knox (8-20 overall) dropped the opener 11-5 but came back to claim the second game, 10-5.

While Maddie Hicks picked up the win, Victoria Torres preserved the Knox victory by coming on to earn the save.

The Prairie Fire are next in action on Tuesday, hosting a doubleheader with Blackburn.

Knox trailed 2-0 after the first two Harris-Stowe at-bats but was able to get a run back in the bottom of the second as Taylor Goudschaal scored on an errant pickoff throw. 

The momentum carried into the fourth inning, as both squads remained scoreless in the third. Knox's offense then came to life, with the Prairie Fire exploding for four runs.

Kylie Thomson scored on an error to get Knox started. A couple more miscues by Harris-Stowe gave the Prairie Fire an advantage they would not surrender.  Knox added a run in the fifth as Torres had a sacrifice fly.

Further extending their lead in the sixth, Knox saw Goudschaal single home Hicks. Janet Lentini followed with a two-run double, scoring both Goudschaal and O'Neill.

Chelsea McKee, Hicks, and O'Neill each had three hits for Knox. Cheyanne Merkel and Lentini tallied two hits apiece, while O'Neill and Lentini drove in two runs each.

In the opener, after allowing a run to H-S in the first, Knox answered with three in its half of the first. Merkel hit a two-run home run, and Goudschaal scored on an error. Knox added to its lead in the third inning as Thomson walked with the bases loaded to score Merkel, and O'Neill scored on an error. 

The Hornets rallied, though, scoring four in the fourth to tie the game. The score stayed knotted at 5-5 until the top of the seventh, when Harris-Stowe broke through with six runs.

Merkel had three hits, two RBI, and two runs scored to lead the Knox offense. O'Neill added two hits and two runs for the Prairie Fire.