The Bulldogs closed out a successful opening weekend of play with an 8-0, five-inning victory over Western Illinois Sunday.

With the result, Butler moves to 4-1. All of the Bulldogs' opening weekend games were played indoors at The Dome in Rosemont, Ill.

Sophomore Karli Ricketts led the charge for the Bulldogs in the circle and at the plate. In her five innings of work, she limited Western Illinois to only two hits while striking out four. At the plate, she capped a four-run first inning with a two-run home run to left field. It was her second homer in five games to open the season.

Maddie Moore and Elyse Babb each posted two RBI in the contest. Moore's RBI groundout started the scoring in the first inning before Babb singled in Bri Avery for the team's second run that preceded Ricketts' blast.

Moore and Babb were back at it in the fifth inning as Moore had an RBI single and Babb's RBI triple to center plated Moore for the team's eighth run to end the game.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend with six games in Florida as part of the Madeira Beach Spring Games. Video streams of the contests will be available on FloSoftball.com (subscription required).