EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Lincoln softball team played its third game of the Blue Bridge Battle on Saturday morning (Feb. 24), dropping a 9-3 decision to Notre Dame of Ohio. 

The Falcons got on board first via sacrifice fly in the opening inning, but the Blue Tigers answered in the bottom half of the inning with a run of its own. Leslie Callahan hit a double in LU's first at bat and later scored on a ground out by Maris Ollison. NDC broke the tie in the top of the second, hitting a two-run homer, and the score remained 3-1 entering the bottom of the third.

In that frame, Lincoln (4-5) got back within one on an RBI single by Abbi Conrad that allowed Callahan to reach home for her second run of the day. That made the score 3-2, but Notre Dame (3-2) brought in two runs of its own to go back on top by three.

After the Falcons added an unearned run in the top of the fifth, the Blue Tigers got back on the scoreboard in the sixth, pulling to within 6-3 when Conrad scored on another ground out by Ollison. That ended up being the last run of the ballgame for the Blue Tigers, while Notre Dame tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the seventh and held on for the victory.

Ollison, who had two RBI, and Vanessa Cardenas each had one hit apiece and Callahan had two hits of her own. Maddie Sechrest notched two strikeouts as LU's closer while the starter, Paige Rademann, struck out one Falcon batter. Torri Hinnah tallied a team-high 11 putouts. Ollison finished with six assists while Gabby Newman and Josie Stewart each ended the morning with two.