KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Senior pitcher Jessica Goetz (Milwaukee, Wis./Greendale Martin Luther) recorded her third career shutout as the Alverno College softball team defeated Gwynedd-Mercy College 4-0 this morning in the Rebel Spring Games at Osceola Country Softball Complex outside of Orlando.

The Inferno dropped the second game of the day to the College of St. Benedict in an 8-4 decision, putting their record at 2-2 this season.

Goetz began the day striking out Gwynedd-Mercy's first six batters and recorded a season-high 14 strikeouts, walking only three batters, in her second win of the season. She allowed only two hits in the game and got herself out of a jam in the third inning when the Griffins (0-1) had runners at second and third base, forcing an infield out and striking out the final batter.

"Jess was very focused and when she gets in her zone she's unbelievable," Alverno head coach Kristin Kosobucki said. "She again did a great job of keeping the hitters off balance."

Freshman pitcher Jamie Villalobos (Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community) started out strong with two strikeouts in the first inning and allowed only two hits in the first three innings, but got jammed in the fourth inning after allowing two runs with runners on second and third.

With one away Goetz came into relieve her rookie teammate and struck out her first batter of the game and forced the second into a routine groundout, maintaining the 3-2 lead for Alverno.

Junior left fielder Andrea Derrick (Greenfield, Wis.) would knock home shortstop Megan Burgess (Racine, Wis./Park) with a single down the leftfield line to temporarily extend the lead to 4-2.

Alverno broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth as freshman third baseman Natalie Petrie (Franklin, Wis.) knocked in freshman catcher Stef Wilmore (Elkhart, Ind./Central) for the go-ahead run.

Wilmore accounted for three of the team's six hits, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs and an extra-base hit in the game. Petrie had a game-high two RBIs, knocking in another run in the three-run sixth inning.

"We scored first which helped our confidence a lot," Kosobucki said. "We then secured some insurance runs in the sixth and that helped us mentally going forward. It also helped Jess knowing she has the security behind her, making her job easier."

In the second game of the day the Inferno jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring one in the second inning and a pair in the fourth inning, but the St. Benedict Blazers (1-0) scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth and six in the fifth inning taking an 8-3 lead.

But the Blazers would explode for their six runs in the bottom half of the inning, handing Goetz (2-1) her first loss of the season. Goetz recorded five strikeouts, but allowed six runs, in just two-and-two-thirds innings of work.

The Inferno recorded 10 hits in the loss led by Derrick's and freshman second baseman Roxanne Kresmer's (South Milwaukee, Wis.) performances at the plate. Each went 3-for-3 and recorded an RBI and a walk. Yet the team left eight runners on base, including three in the fifth inning with only one out, before the next two batters struck out.

Wilmore recorded two more hits on the day, including her third double in just four games.

"Versus St. Ben's we hit great, but just left too many runners on base" Kosobucki said. "The fifth was a struggle for us--they started hitting well and were able to string their hits together, where as we were sporadic with our hits, just too spread out."

Alverno will take the day off tomorrow before returning to action at the Rebel Games on Tuesday afternoon. The Inferno will face Widener University at 1 Eastern, and Beloit College at 5.