The Muhlenberg softball team came close to taking both of its first two games of its Florida trip and the 2017 season, instead settling for a split.
 
The Mules racked up 10 hits and received a strong pitching performance from junior Hayley Peterson to defeat Drew 6-2 in their first game of the day, giving Molly Rathbun a victory in her first game as a college head coach. Muhlenberg then orchestrated a three-run seventh inning against Coast Guard in game two, with senior Sarah Merlo smacking a game-tying RBI double. The Bears held off the Mules from there however, winning 4-3 in nine innings.
 
Junior Karissa Astrella finished 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI to lead the Mules in the opener. Junior Paige Seitz and sophomore Kristina Qualben each collected three hits on the day as well, with Seitz going 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored against Coast Guard.
 
Peterson earned her first victory of the season in game one, pitching six innings while scattering eight hits and striking out three. She retired seven of the first nine batters she faced and held the Rangers scoreless through her first 5 ¹/3 innings.
 
In her first game back after missing last season with an injury, senior Courtney Simon went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and a run scored against Drew. Junior Amelia Shelley also batted home a run in the first game.
 
The Mules put up a crooked number in the first frame against Drew. Junior Haley Fedak hit a leadoff single up the middle and junior Hanna Caiola walked to put runners on first and second. Both advanced on a wild pitch before Astrella hit a ground ball the Drew shortstop could not field cleanly, allowing both Fedak and Caiola to score.
 
Peterson got out of a bases loaded jam with a strikeout in the third inning, and Muhlenberg responded in the bottom of the inning with another run as Simon slashed a single down the right field line that plated Astrella, making it 3-0.
 
Astrella's leadoff double started a three-run rally for the Mules in the fifth, providing enough insurance to withstand two Ranger runs scored in the sixth. Freshman Sarah Siclari made her collegiate debut and pitched a clean seventh inning to seal the victory.
 
The Mules battled back after going down 3-0 through six innings against Coast Guard. Freshman Sarah Schubert slapped a pinch-hit double, her first hit of her career, to start the Mule rally. Seitz followed with a single to bring home Schubert, and Seitz scored two batters later when sophomore Kristy Selby reached on an error.
 
Siclari singled in her first Muhlenberg at-bat to extend the inning, putting runners on first and third. Merlo (pictured above) then doubled home Selby to tie the game at 3-3 before the Bears retired the next two batters to get out of the inning.
 
The teams played under international tiebreaker procedures and started each frame of extra innings with a runner on second base. The Mules got their runner to third in both the eighth and ninth innings but could not scratch home a run.
 
Siclari pitched 2 ²/3 innings of relief but took the loss after giving up two hits that led to the winning run. Fedak started on the mound, allowing a run in the first inning before retiring 13 of her next 16 batters faced over the next four innings. She finished the game with five strikeouts.
 
As a team, Muhlenberg only struck out two times in 62 at-bats on the day. The nine-inning affair against Coast Guard was the longest game for the Mules since going 12 innings in the second game of a doubleheader against Ursinus in 2015.