EAST PEORIA, Ill. - The Truman softball team advanced a runner to third base just twice and didn't score its one run until two outs had already been recorded in the bottom of the seventh on Thursday afternoon against McKendree. Behind a complete-game nine-strikeout performance from Holly Magre, the fifth-seeded Bearcats defeated the fourth-seeded Bulldogs 4-1 in the first round of the GLVC Tournament.

With the loss, Truman falls to 35-20 overall, while McKendree has been on the winning end in four straight to improve to 31-19 on the season. The Bulldogs now drop to the losers' bracket to play William Jewell at approximately 3 p.m. and the Bearcats move on in the winners' bracket to face top-seeded/sixth-ranked Southern Indiana.

McKendree tallied one run in the second, another in the fifth and two more in the seventh to give Magre (16-7) all the run support she needed. Magre gave up just the one earned run on five hits with four free passes, nine punchouts and 113 pitches. Lauren Dale (17-7) got the start for Truman and was handed her first loss since April 1 at Drury, which was 20 games ago for the Bulldogs. In relief, Nicolette Simpson threw the final inning with one earned run surrendered on two hits and one strikeout.

Offensively for the Purple and White, their five hits came from four players including Christa Reisinger (2-for-4 with an RBI triple), Alyssa Rivera (1-for-4), Lex Van Nostrand (1-for-3), and Riley Cook (1-for-3). Overall, Truman stranded seven baserunners with at least one in five of the game's seven frames.

As mentioned above, the Bulldogs will now face eighth-seeded William Jewell later today. The Cardinals lost to Southern Indiana by a score of 10-4 in each of those teams' first contest of the tournament. Live stats and GLVCSN coverage for Truman's next game will be available right here at TrumanBulldogs.com.

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