The Central College softball team suffered its first defeat of the season Saturday night, falling 4-3 in nine innings to Division II McKendree University after picking up a 4-1 win over Alfred College earlier in the day. In the loss to McKendree, the Dutch took an early 2-0 lead, but allowed the Bearcats to come back and tie the game in the sixth inning. With no change in the score after the seventh inning, the international tiebreaker rule was instated, with each team starting their half inning with a runner on second base.

Both teams scored in the eighth frame, but the Dutch were unable to answer another score by McKendree in the ninth. Central’s Kyrie Hale was 3-for-4 at the plate in the loss. Rhianna Fleetwood had the busiest day of her Central career. Fleetwood threw a seven-inning five-hitter against Alfred, then came back in relief and threw the final two innings against McKendree. She yielded two hits and had one strikeout against McKendree, but took the loss, snapping her 12-game winning streak. She was 10-0 last season.

The Central College softball team is 3-1 on the season, following the loss.