LEBANON, Ill. - The Davenport University softball team stayed in the St. Louis area on Sunday to take on another Great Lakes Valley Conference program in McKendree. The Panthers squandered a 5-0 lead in game one to fall by a score of 9-5 before dropping the nightcap as well, 11-8.

Since winning six of seven games to finish the Florida trip, Davenport has come up short in four straight for an overall record of 7-10. McKendree (8-6) is trending in the opposite direction and has won seven games in a row since opening the season at just 1-6. Next up for the Panthers is a four-game road swing through Ohio with doubleheaders at Cedarville on Saturday (12 p.m.) and Ohio Dominican on Sunday (12 p.m.).

Game 1: McKendree 9, Davenport 5
Davenport scored three runs in the third inning followed by one each in the fourth and fifth. In that third frame, Rachel Griffin doubled in Selene Pauley, Alexis Koza doubled in Griffin and Gabby Palazzolo singled in Koza. Then, Pauley brought in Kennedy Crawford with an RBI single in the fourth and Palazzolo forced in Alexa Flores with another RBI single in the fifth.

However, in the bottom of the sixth, McKendree sent 10 batters to the plate and scored nine runs on six hits with two Panther errors. In the top of the seventh, Davenport had a pair of singles, but was unable to do anything with them.

In the circle, Ellie Muilenburg (3-5) dropped her third-straight decision after giving up nine runs, seven earned, on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

All 13 of the Panthers' hits came from the top six spots in the order including three-hit efforts from both Pauley in the two hole and Palazzolo in the six spot. Hitters seven though nine went a combined 0-for-9 at the dish with all three of the team's strikeouts.

Game 2: McKendree 11, Davenport 8
Flores hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the first and Davenport had struck first. McKendree then responded with eight runs in the home half of that inning followed by another run in the third to take a commanding eight-run advantage.

Two innings later, Crawford went deep for the first time in her career and made it a 9-3 game with a two-run blast that also scored Rylie Kalina. That same inning, Griffin plated both Flores and Pauley with a double to right before Brooke Cowan got in on the action with an RBI single to left that pushed Griffin across.

The Bearcats made it an 11-6 game with a pair of runs in the bottom of that inning before Flores and Griffin each hit a solo shot in the seventh for the final score of 11-8.

Taylor Simon (2-4) was unable to record an out in the loss with seven earned runs surrendered before Emma Miller threw six frames and gave up four earned. Miller allowed 10 hits without a free pass and six punchouts.

The top five spots in the Panther order went a combined 9-for-19 (.474 batting average) while the other four were 1-for-13 (.077).

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler