Rachele Vogelpohl scores a run Monday

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The perfect season continued for the Northern Kentucky University softball team Monday, as the Norse posted a pair of 4-0 wins against Bellarmine at the Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.

NKU, ranked No. 1 nationally in the NCAA Division II poll, extended its school-record win streak to 24 consecutive games with the doubleheader sweep. The Norse improved to 24-0 with the two non-league wins.

NKU’s Krystal Lewallen threw a one-hit shutout in the opener and struck out 17 batters. Lewallen, now 12-0 this season, has not allowed an earned run during her last 68 innings on the mound and entered Monday having thrown back-to-back no-hitters.

The 2004 Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year, Lewallen owns a 0.25 earned run average this season. She also has a school-record 59 career victories with the Norse in three seasons.

Freshman right fielder Sarah King, a graduate of Louisville Male High School, was 2-for-3 with four runs batted in to lead the Norse offense. King delivered a two-run single in the third inning to give NKU a 2-0 lead, and she later added another two-run single in the fifth to seal the win for Lewallen.

Ricki Rothbauer was 3-for-3 and stole two bases for the Norse. Rothbauer, a junior second baseman and a graduate of Louisville DuPont Manual, also scored two runs and hit her fifth triple of the season. Megan Owens added three hits for NKU.

In the second game, senior Emily Breitholle allowed just two hits as NKU again posted a 4-0 win. Rachele Vogelpohl hammered a two-run triple to right-center field in the second inning to key the Norse offense.

Breitholle finished with 11 strikeouts and improved to 8-0 this season. She did not walk a batter en route to the complete-game victory, her 57th career win at NKU.

NKU will attempt to win its 25th straight game Friday when the Norse meet Ferris State at the GLIAC/GLVC Showdown at Battle Creek, Mich. The longest single-season win streak in NCAA Division II history is 40, set in 1995 by Kennesaw State.

NKU will also meet both Grand Valley State and Northwood on Friday.