BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Despite turning in a strong defensive performance, the Belmont softball team (13-26) was unable to recover from an early deficit and fell on the road at Western Kentucky (26-13) on Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Toppers held off BU, 4-0.
The Bruins notched one hit in the top of the first but WKU put three runs over the plate in the bottom of the same. Belmont continued to lean on its defense to keep Western Kentucky off the board for most of the contest. The Lady Toppers had a chance at a two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning but sophomore Heather Turner reached over the fence to pull the ball in to help retire the side.
BU would get runners on base in both the fifth and sixth innings but were unable to move them around. WKU added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to expand its advantage to 4-0 and used strong pitching to prevent the Bruins from finding a scoring opportunity in the final inning.
Sophomore Kirbie Ferrell (Pasadena, Texas) tallied BU's lone hit of the afternoon.
Junior Mia Vierra (Palmdale, Calif.) tossed four innings and rang up one strikeout. Freshman Taylor Moon (Vestavia, Ala.) and sophomore Katie Clancy (Pasadena, Calif.) also saw time inside the circle.
Belmont returns to action this weekend in its home finale at Rose Park which doubles as Senior Weekend for Becca Gift and Courtney Elrod. The Bruins host Austin Peay on Saturday and Murray State on Sunday. Both doubleheaders begin at Noon with Senior Day Festivities taking place after the first game on each day.
