LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning in game two at Bellarmine, the Truman State University softball team looked to be well on its way to the first GLVC sweep of 2019. The Bulldogs won game one, 5-3, in eight innings and led the homestanding Knights, 6-1, with nine outs to get in the nightcap. However, Bellarmine pushed across five runs to get it to extra innings before walking it off with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth.

With the split, Truman sits at 16-7 overall and 4-6 in GLVC play with a trip to defending National Champion, Southern Indiana, coming on Monday (12 p.m. - DH). On the other side, Bellarmine (14-17, 3-7 GLVC) snapped a five-game losing streak with its game-two victory. Aside from a non-conference twinbill at home vs. Lincoln (4-26 record) on April 9, the Bulldogs' next four doubleheaders will be against teams that are currently in the top half of the league standings.

In game one on Sunday, Truman scored first when Christa Reisinger touched home plate on a wild pitch in the first inning. However, Bellarmine proceeded to take a one-run lead of its own with a bases-loaded walk, also in the first, and an infield RBI single in the second. From there, the pitchers were able to settle in before big seventh and eighth frames by the Bulldogs.

In the seventh, Lauren Bowman brought in pinch-runner, Michaela Mooney, with a sacrifice fly to left field before Alyssa Rivera (two-run) and Morgan McMahan (solo) hit back-to-back jacks in the eighth that made it 5-2 in favor of the visitors. In the bottom of that eighth inning, Bellarmine was able to bring the tying run to the plate, but Alyssa Hajduk (pictured) finished off a stellar relief effort.

Lauren Dale received a no decision after throwing four innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits to go with three walks and five strikeouts. Back to Hajduk (6-2), the junior gave up just one earned run on only two hits in four innings with two free passes and three punchouts. After giving up three or more earned runs in three-consecutive outings earlier this month, the left hander has surrendered one or fewer in her last four appearances to get her ERA back down to 2.85.

In the nightcap, Truman was again the first team to score and did so with two in the first and another in the third. McMahan singled in two before Emma Walbert did her job with an RBI groundout that scored Kayla Quanstrum. Despite Bellarmine scoring a run in the bottom of the second, the Bulldogs tacked on another in the third followed by two more in the fourth. In those two innings, Adrienne Compton hit her fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, Walbert singled in Reisinger and later scored on a wild pitch.

However, the Knights proceeded to bring in three runs in the fifth followed by one each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Of the seven runs Bellarmine was able to score, only three of them were earned as the Bulldogs committed two errors in the game.

Hajduk gave up one earned run in three innings followed by four unearned runs against Rachael Kernich (three IP) and then two earned vs. Dale in the final inning and a third.

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