Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

NASHVILLE— The Kentucky Wesleyan softball team came away with a split in a doubleheader on the road against Trevecca Nazarene in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play on Tuesday evening. Kentucky Wesleyan is now (14-18, 9-3 G-MAC) on the season.

Kentucky Wesleyan won game one by a score of 3-2, but fell in game two 9-1 in five innings due to the eight run rule. With the loss in game two, the Panthers' eight game winning streak came to an end.

 Still, KWC has won 11 of their past 13 contests. The Panthers also remain in sole second place in the conference standings.

In game one, Courtney Lockwood got things rolling for the Panthers in the top of the first. Lockwood drilled a two run homerun to give KWC the early 2-0 edge.

Lockwood brought in the other run in the second inning on a single to put Kentucky Wesleyan ahead 3-0.

That would be all the offense the Panthers needed for the rest of the game, as KWC's pitching and defense held off Trevecca, the top team in the G-MAC entering Tuesday, for the rest of the game.

Maci Brown got the start on the mound for the Panthers. Brown went six innings and struck out five batters. She also had a no hitter rolling through the first four innings. Brown tallied her seventh win of the season, and gave up just three hits throughout the game.

Casey Smith came in for the final inning of play, and struck out the side to record the save and preserve the victory. Smith marked her fourth save this season.

Meredith Daunhauer, Lockwood, and Mackenzie Weedman finished with six of the Panthers' eight hits in total. Alexis Chapman and Shelby Tennant came up with the other two hits in the game. Tennant's lone hit was a double.

In game two, Trevecca got off to the early lead by scoring off a fielder's choice in the bottom half of the first inning.

Kentucky Wesleyan responded in the top of the fourth, when Samantha Marksbury knocked a solo homerun to even the game up at 1-1. The Panthers had an opportunity to take the lead in the inning, but left runners on base.

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Trojans took over the game. TNU scored six runs in the half inning to extend the lead all the way out to 7-1.

The Panthers loaded bases up in top of the fifth, but came away empty-handed. This proved to be costly, because in the next half inning Trevecca scored two runs on a walk-off double to end the game in five innings at 9-1.

Casey Smith started game two on the mound for Kentucky Wesleyan. Smith struck out three batters, but gave up seven earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched. Jessica Carmon pitched the remainder of the game for the Panthers.

Kentucky Wesleyan came away with just five hits in the second game.

The Panthers will next play in Pepper Pike, Ohio, against Ursuline this weekend.