Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 On a cold and windy home opening day for Jewell softball, the bats provided some much needed heat for both Bellarmine and the Cardinals

Unfortunately for Jewell, the final score was Bellarmine 7, Jewell 4.  Home runs that is, most of them against a stiff wind.  Bellarmine also won both games, defeating the Cardinals 6-4 in the first game and 10-7 in a second game that lasted eight innings.

In game one, a solo home run gave Bellarmine a 1-0 advantage in the second inning, only to have Rachel Hayden's  two-run home run and Annali Dolman's RBI groundout in the third inning gave the Cardinals a brief lead.  Bellarmine scratched back to tie the game with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but a Maddi Ratzliff three-run homer in the seventh was the biggest blow as the Knights took the lead in the seventh inning.  A solo home run in the bottom of the frame by Faith Song got Jewell close but not close enough.

Song (two innings pitched, three runs, five hits allowed, 2-2 on the season) took the defeat in the circle, pitching the final two innings of the game in relief of starter Hayden.  The Cardinals had six hits in the game and Bellarmine had 10.

In game two, the Cards started out hot, building a 6-2 lead through the first three innings behind Song's three-run home run, a sacrifice fly by Ashley Barrett and an RBI double by Lexi Rozmus.  The Knight runs came on a two-run shot by Hannah Daunhauer to center field in the third inning, but the biggest blows were yet to come as Bellarmine had consecutive home runs by Abby Lenhart, Ratzliff and Scarlett Powers to pull within one.  Still, the Cardinals seemed to be in control after Dolman homered in the sixth inning and relief pitcher Kahli Barrett got to within a strike of ending the game only to have Ally Foster of the Knights homer off the scoreboard in left field, followed by Ratzliff's RBI single later in the inning off reliever Song to tie the game at seven all.

In the bottom of the seventh, Hayden and Song led off with two singles, but Foster struck out three consecutive Cardinal hitters to end the rally, sparking a three run uprising in the top of the eighth to effectively end the contest.

Song again took the loss in relief (2-3, allowing four runs on six hits in an inning and a third) for Jewell, but had a giant day at the plate going 5-9 with two home runs and four runs knocked in.  The Knights (10-9, 5-1 GLVC)  put together 15 hits in the game, while the Cardinals again had six

The Cardinals(5-7, 0-2 GLVC)  finish their weekend by hosting McKendree University at noon on Sunday.