LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Black Hills State University softball team fell in two games to Colorado Christian University on Sunday afternoon. The Cougars (19-1) took game one, 10-2, in five innings, before winning the second game of the doubleheader, 6-4, over the Yellow Jackets (2-14). BHSU scored six runs over the two games after being shut out in Saturday's doubleheader.

CCU 10, BHSU 2 (5 innings)
The Yellow Jackets scored their first run of the series in the first inning of game one. With two outs, Kindall Bethke singled, before Maddi Fidler doubled to move Bethke over to third base. In the ensuing at bat, Maddie London hit a single up the middle, allowing Bethke to come around and score, giving BHSU a 1-0 lead. However, the Cougars tied the game up in the bottom of the first inning.

CCU scored two runs in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Cougars used a five run third inning to take control of the game, and added two runs in the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Alex Wiley led off with a homerun to cut the lead to 10-2, but the Cougars were able to hold off the Green and Gold, and earn the victory.

Bethke recorded two hits in the game, while Wiley, Katelyn Odle, Fidler, London and Brittany Henricksen each had one hit. Wiley and London each recorded an RBI.

Melissa Gellermann (1-7) took the loss for the Yellow Jackets. She threw 2.2 innings, allowing eight runs (six earned), while striking out one. Paige McGuire threw the final 1.1 innings, allowing two runs. She struck out two hitters.

CCU 6, BHSU 4
Colorado Christian jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Yellow Jacket defense was able to keep the Cougars off the board for the next three innings, until they added a run in the bottom of the fifth.

The Yellow Jackets bats got going in the top of the sixth inning. After Odle, Bethke, and Fidler each singled to open the inning, London recorded an RBI when she hit a single to left field. After a pitching change by the Cougars, Morgan Smith continued the damage, knocking in two on a single. Brittany Henricksen then hit her own single, bringing the Green and Gold within one, 5-4. In the bottom half of the inning, CCU added an insurance run, and the Yellow Jackets were unable to continue the onslaught in the seventh, falling, 6-4.

London and Brittany Henricksen each had two hits in the game, while Odle, Bethke, Fidler, Smith, and Bryce Henricksen each recorded a hit. In addition to Smith's two runs batted in, London, and Brittany Henricksen each had an RBI in the game.

Paige McGuire (0-3) took the loss in the circle. She threw 0.1 innings, allowing four hits. Gellermann threw the final 5.2 innings, allowing two runs while striking out three.

The Green and Gold will next travel to Colorado School of Mines for a four-game series on March 17 and 18. The first game is scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday, March 17.
  Black Hills State is located in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota, sponsoring 13 NCAA sports with membership in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the NCAA emerging sport of women's triathlon and NIRA rodeo. For all information regarding Yellow Jacket Athletics, please visit BHSUAthletics.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @BHSUAthletics.