Missouri-St. Louis (8-8, 4-0 GLVC): 11, 5
at Southern Indiana (12-10, 3-3 GLVC): 3, 3
Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2

EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The University of Southern Indiana softball team opened its 2011 home schedule with a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference losses to the University of Missouri-St. Louis Sunday at the USI Softball Field. The Screaming Eagles dropped game one, 11-3, and game two, 5-3.

Missouri-St. Louis (8-8, 4-0 GLVC) took advantage of four walks in the top of the first inning of game one to score three times. The Tritons scored two more times in the second inning and once more in the third frame as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead.

Sophomore pitcher/infielder Stephanie Bittner, who was 3-of-4 at the plate in game one, had RBI-doubles in both the second and fourth innings as the Eagles began to chip away at the Tritons' advantage.

USI (12-10, 3-3 GLVC) scored again in the sixth inning when senior second baseman Amanda Brendel (Salem, Illinois) singled in a run to cut Missouri-St. Louis's lead to 6-3.

The Tritons, however, answered the Eagles' charge by scoring five times in the seventh inning to put the contest out of reach.

Freshman pitcher Madeline Brink was charged with the loss after giving up nine runs, eight earned, off 10 hits and five walks in 6 1/3 innings of work. Brink falls to 5-3 with the setback.

Game two started much differently for the Eagles as senior third baseman LeAnn Collins had a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning to put the Eagles up 2-0.

Missouri-St. Louis answered though as sophomore pitcher/infielder Leslie Davis, who got the win in game one, hit a three-run shot over the centerfield fence in the fourth inning to give the Tritons a 3-2 advantage.

Bittner's RBI-single in the fifth inning tied the contest at 3-3, but the Tritons scored twice in the top half of the seventh frame to take a 5-3 lead. The Eagles went down in order in the last half of the seventh as they suffered their first two-game sweep of the GLVC season.

Bittner (3-5) took the loss for the Eagles after giving up five runs, four earned, off 10 hits and two walks.

USI returns to action Saturday at noon when it hosts Bellarmine University in a GLVC doubleheader. The Eagles and Knights will be trying to raise breast cancer awareness Saturday as both teams will be wearing pink.