OMAHA, Neb. -- Emily Rochford drove in four runs and the Bellevue University softball team used a nine-run fourth inning en route to a 13-1 victory at College of St. Mary Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action at the CSM Softball Field.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 13-11 on the season. CSM fell to 5-9 overall.
The Flames took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Mickayla Larsen's sacrifice fly to center field that scored Abby Straight from third. Straight led off the game with a single down the third-base line.
BU starter Savannah Gunn held the Flames to just three hits and no runs the remainder of the contest.
Two bases-loaded walks and a two-run single to left field gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead at the end of the first frame.
The Bruins batted through the lineup in the fourth inning. Kaitlyn Kinman drove in runs twice in the inning on an RBI triple to center field and on a run-scoring single to left field later in the same inning. Ellie Bliemeister, Lauren Russell, and Maricela Egan registered RBI singles in the inning and BU scored three runs on back-to-back doubles by Madison Machacek and Rochford.
In total, the Bruins scored nine runs on nine hits in the fourth frame.
Gunn improved to 4-4 on the season, allowing four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five innings in the circle.
Abby Straight (5-6) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs with no hits and five walks in the first 1/3 inning of play.
The Bruins will host Mayville State University this Friday-Saturday, March 26-27 in a four-game conference series at a site to be determined.
