­­EAST PEORIA, IL --- The Prairie Stars were the hottest team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference coming into the tournament, but they were upended by a dominate pitching performance in game one before falling in the final innings of game two. UIS (31-23) fell to the third seeded Tritons of Missouri – St. Louis 2-0 before falling 2-1 to Bellarmine in their second game.

In the first game of the double elimination tournament, UIS ran into a dominate pitching performance from the Tritons, one they seemingly had no answer for. The first five batters for UIS struck out as the first ten batters of the game were retired. Madi Torry broke the streak with a bunt single, but nothing came of it in the fourth.

Morgan Edwards singled to lead off the fifth inning and was bunted over by Erin Stroup, but UIS was unable to get the runner to third. A single from Ali Haesele in the third sparked a two-out rally as she advanced two bases on a wild pitch, but was stranded with a chance to cut the deficit in half.

In the circle, Haesele (17-7) took the loss, allowing two runs on back-to-back home runs in the second inning, though she allowed just six hits on the game. UIS struck out 12 times at the plate and had just three batters reach base.

With the loss, UIS was matched up with Bellarmine in the first elimination game. UIS bested Bellarmine twice earlier in the season, both times on walk-off homeruns. The Prairie Stars got things going early in game two as Torry picked up her second hit of the day with an infield single to third. After stealing second, Torry came into score on a single from Lakyn Wagoner, giving UIS an early 1-0 lead.

Jaycee Craver retired nine of the first ten Knights that came to the plate, holding the early lead. She allowed her first hit with two outs in the third but quickly induced a popup to end the inning.

In the fourth, Amanda Gosbeth was hit by a pitch and stole second, but back-to-back fly outs left the senior stranded.

Bellarmine threatened in the fifth inning, starting the frame with consecutive singles before loading the bases with two outs with their third single of the inning. Craver worked around the jam, as Erin Stroup made a highlight reel catch at short, saving at least two runs, stabbing a line drive out of the air, preserving the one-run lead.

However, in the sixth, Bellarmine got a pinch hit single to leadoff the inning and two more singles tied the game at one. With one-out, Bellarmine hit a possible double play ball, but an error allowed the go-ahead run to score, giving the Knights a 2-1 lead.

Down to their last three outs, Edwards singled to right, putting the tying run on base. Alexa McClaughry pinch ran for Edwards and was put into scoring position on a single from Alexa Brown. UIS was unable to convert though, as a ground out to the pitcher ended the game.

Torry collected two hits in the game, giving her three on the day, and scored the Prairie Stars' lone run on the day. Craver (10-10) threw a complete-game, giving up eight hits but limiting the Knights to two runs (one earned), and struck out five.

The Prairie Stars won the third most games in Division II history, coming up one shy of their 2015 total and five shy of their program high of 36 in 2012.