NASHVILLE, Ill. – The SIUE softball team extended its Ohio Valley Conference winning streak to seven games by sweeping a doubleheader against Belmont Saturday afternoon at Rose Park.

Similar to their doubleheader sweep at Tennessee State on Friday, the Cougars (24-19, 16-3 OVC) used strong pitching to prevail in a pair of low-scoring affairs against the Bruins.  SIUE took game one 3-2 before rallying for a 3-1 victory in game two.

"It wasn't easy to win on the road, but our pitching staff kept us in these ball games," Head Coach Sandy Montgomery said.  "We left some runners on base but we were able to get some big hits when we needed them."

In Saturday's first game, sophomore Haley Chambers improved to 11-1 in conference play by limiting Belmont to two runs on four hits to go with nine strikeouts.

"Haley was able to hit her spots and keep their hitters off balance today," Montgomery said.

The Cougars grabbed an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the second inning, as Brittany Toney plated Whitney Lanphier with a sacrifice fly before ripped an RBI double to score Rachel Keller.

Belmont (12-29, 6-14 OVC) got a run back in the bottom half of the second, but Chambers scored what turned out to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Rachel Coonrod in the sixth inning.

In game two, senior Erin Greenwalt didn't allow a hit over six scoreless innings while striking out nine Belmont batters.  The victory was Greenwalt's ninth of the season and fifth in OVC play.

"Erin did a great job of coming in and shutting them down," Montgomery said.  "I was very happy with our pitchers performed today."

SIUE got all three of its runs in the top of the fifth inning after trailing 1-0.

"We did a nice job of not quitting and we put some hits together," Montgomery added.  "We didn't press when we were down.  We just kept chugging along until we could put something together." 

Chambers got the visitors on the board with an RBI single to score Jill Rackers before Coonrod provided an RBI single of her own two batters later to drive home Chambers and Alex McDavid. 

McDavid led the Cougars in game two with a season-high three hits.

"Everything is coming together and we're peaking at the right time," McDavid said.  "The offense is doing its job and the pitching has been great.  Everyone is stepping in and doing their job."

SIUE  will return home for its final non-conference game of the regular season Thursday, welcoming Evansville for a 5 p.m. matchup at Cougar Field.