The Lawrence University softball team rolled to a win in game one Saturday, but Beloit College got a shutout in game two for a split of a Midwest Conference doubleheader at Whiting Field.
In the opener, Lawrence (7-18, 1-5 MWC) won 9-1 in six innings, and Beloit (7-24, 1-5) posted a 1-0 victory in the second game.
Shannon Murray went the distance to get the win in the first game for Lawrence. She allowed only three hits, struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. Coley LaChance and Cory Paquette both went 2-for-3, and Cathy Kaye drove in a pair of runs for the Vikings.
Lawrence got on the board on Paquette’s run-scoring single in the second inning, but the Vikings broke the game open in the third. Lawrence scored four times in the third with Brielle Bartes and Mary Diduch both picking up run-scoring singles. Diduch completed the scoring in the third when she stole home as part of a double steal to give Lawrence a 5-0 lead.
Lawrence added a run in the fourth on Alex Chiodo’s squeeze bunt, and the Vikings led 6-1 heading to the sixth.
The Vikings had two runners aboard in the sixth when Kaye doubled down the left field line to score Paquette and Bartes for an 8-1 lead. LaChance then ended the game when she singled to score Kaye.
In the nightcap, Katy Sandt, who took the loss in the opener, went the distance to get the win. Sandt allowed only three hits, struck out five and walked one.
The only run of the contest was Emily Dorjath’s solo homer in the fifth inning.
Lawrence, which went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the game, had two great chances to score.
LaChance smacked a one-out double in the fourth, and Murray followed with a bloop single. LaChance had to hold at second on the play, but both runners moved up on Kara Vance’s ground out. Didich then flied out to end the threat.
Lawrence had runners at second and third with no one out in the sixth, but Sandt got Murray to pop up on the infield for the first out. Vance then grounded to third, but Megan Salm made a nice play to throw out pinch-runner Jessica Robbins at the plate for the second out. Diduch then popped up on the infield to end the threat.
Murray allowed only five hits but took the loss in game two. She struck out five and didn’t walk a hitter.