LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Western Illinois softball team was defeated, 4-0, by Miami (Ohio) University in its only game of the Louisville Red and Black Tournament.

"I thought Lori (Pankratz) pitched well today," said Western Illinois head coach Holly Van Vlymen. "I think our hitting was good, but we need to come up with some big hits in clutch situations. We only had five hits in the game, but we were making good contact."

The RedHawks (6-6) got on the scoreboard first and never looked back in the bottom of the second when sophomore Jenna McGivney scored from second base on a throwing error by Julie DePolo. Freshman Ashley Gartland grounded out to third base, giving Miami (Ohio) an early 1-0 lead.

After a DePolo ground out and a Colleen Biebel strikeout to start the top of the third, freshman Jamie Goss got the offense started with a single to center field. A Lauren Furgala hit to the RedHawks short stop forced Goss out at second base, ending the top of the third down 1-0.

Freshman Ashley Campbell hit a line drive to right field to start the top of the fourth and advanced to third base on a fielding error by the right fielder. Sophomore Michelle Prieto stole second base after getting on base by a walk. With only one out in the inning, junior Lori Pankratz hit the ball to the pitcher and advanced to first on a fielder's choice, but not before Campbell was caught in a pickle trying to score the Westerwinds (4-7) first run of the game. Pankratz was caught stealing second base, ending the top of the fourth still down one run.

In the bottom of the inning, Campbell misread a hit from junior Briana Burke to left field, scoring junior Sarah Billstrom from second base and pushing the RedHawks lead to two.

Gartland and freshman Jordan McElroy scored two more insurance runs for the RedHawks in the bottom of the fifth, giving Miami (Ohio) a 4-0 lead.  

 Pankratz (1-3) recorded the loss for the Westerwinds, striking out six batters and allowing two earned runs in six innings of work.

The Westerwinds recorded just as many hits as the RedHawks (5), but were unable to get any base runners across home plate as they left seven runners on base in the game.

"We need to work more on our defense," said Van Vlymen. "We made some costly fielding errors in the game that led to runs. Between now and next weekend, we need to work a little more on our clutch hitting as well as our base running, we were a little sloppy today on the bases."

The game scheduled against No. 23 Louisville at 3 p.m. was canceled due to a cold (26 degrees) and windy afternoon.

Western Illinois is back in action on March 7-8 when they face No. 19 Southern Illinois, SIU-Edwardsville and Wisconsin in the Coach B Classic in Carbondale, Ill.