Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CLERMONT, Fla. - The Southern Connecticut State University softball team dropped both games of their final doubleheader in Florida Monday morning, first falling to Minnesota-Duluth 15-8, and then 7-1 to Sioux Falls.  The Owls drop to 3-6 on the young season, while Minnesota-Duluth improves to 11-5, and Sioux Falls to 10-2.

The game against the Bulldogs was a barnburner.  Minnesota-Duluth got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Owls tied it up in the bottom half when Nicole Buch (Darien, Conn.) and Giuliana D'Arcangelo (Brookfield, Conn.) manufactured two runs.  The Bulldogs got two more in the top of the second to make it 4-2, but Southern scored six straight runs in the second and third innings to take an 8-4 lead, highlighted by a three-run home run by Kelly Mitchell (Seymour, Conn.), the Owls' first home-run of the year.  

By the sixth inning, Minnesota-Duluth had cut the lead to 8-6, but they added eight more runs in the sixth, knocking Kelsey Cockrill (Haymarket, Va.) out of the game.  The Bulldogs added another run in the seventh inning to make it 15-8, which was too much for the Owls to overcome.  

In the second game, the Owls managed five hits and one run off Sioux Falls pitcher Alyson Netty.  D'Arcangelo went 2 for 4 with a double and Jessica Van Alphen (Hudson, N.Y.) gave up seven runs (three earned) on six hits and ten strikeouts in all seven innings.  It was the second time in three days she pitched a complete game.

The Cougars got out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning off a wild pitch.  They would add four more runs in the top of the fourth, two of them unearned.  

It was 7-0 by the time the Owls scored their first run of the game.  D'Arcangelo led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double.  Leanna Feerick (Maybrook, N.Y.) singled her to third, and she scored on a passed ball.

The Owls finish their opening season trip to Florida 3-6 overall, and had one game cancelled due to rain.  They resume play Thursday against LIU Post at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. if Pelz Field is cleared of the snow.