Game 1 Box Score                  Game 2 Box Score

Rhodes opened the 2008 softball season by sweeping a doubleheader from the MacMurray Highlanders this afternoon by scores of 11-3 and 7-1. Senior Dana Bartolomei picked up the win in game 1, while Freshman Cindy Bitters notched her first college win in game 2.

In game 1, the Lynx and Highlanders each plated a single run in the first inning, and the score would remain knotted at 1 until the bottom of the 3rd inning, when the Lynx pushed across 7 runs on 4 hits, and were helped out by 2 Highlander errors. 

The Highlanders narrowed the margin to 5 at 8-3 in the top of the 5th on a 2 out double by Betsy Heise, but the Lynx answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the inning, ending the game with an 11-3 mercy-rule win.  Senior Dana Bartolomei picked up her first win of the season, giving up 3 hits and striking out 7 in 5 innings of work.  Freshman Sara Bowen and Sophomore Armanda Venezia each had a pair of hits to pace the Lynx offense in a game that saw 6 different Lynx with at least 1 RBI.

The Highlanders jumped out to a 1-0 lead again in game 2, but the Lynx answered in the home half of the inning with an RBI single from Bartolomei and an RBI double by Bowen.  The score would remain 2-1 until the 4th, when the Lynx plated a pair of runs on a solo home run by sophomore Rebekah Moore and an RBI single from sophomore Jennifer Whatley. 

The Lynx added 3 more runs in the 5th on their way to a 7-1 victory.  Freshman Cindy Bitters picked up the win in her college debut, giving up 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 14.  Bitters and freshman Hillary Relyea each had a pair of hits to pace the Lynx offense.

Rhodes returns to action Friday against Robert Morris College at 10am and Williams Baptist College at 3pm.