The Muhlenberg softball team continued to show its resilience and never-say-die attitude on its third day in Florida, coming back to tie the score in its final at-bat in both games.

Unfortunately, the Mules again were not rewarded for their persistence, dropping both games in extra innings, 8-7 to Concordia-Chicago and 6-5 to Ohio Northern. The team is 1-5 with five straight one-run losses, including three extra-inning setbacks. All five of the losses came in the opponent's last at-bat, and in four of those five games, Muhlenberg came from behind to tie or take a lead.

Against Concordia, the Mules trailed 6-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth before scoring twice in each of the next two innings. Muhlenberg took advantage of extreme wildness by the Cougar pitcher, drawing eight walks (three with the bases loaded) to go along with a hit batsman in the two frames. Freshman Sarah Siclari, who batted leadoff and went 3-for-4, drove in the tying run with a groundout.

After Concordia (3-3) scored in the top of the eighth, sophomore Allyson Sweeney was placed at second to start the bottom of the inning and scored the tying run on a ground ball by sophomore Kristina Qualben. The Mules got the tying run to third in the bottom of the ninth but could not push it across.

Siclari started the game and pitched the first four innings, then came back in relief to toss the final 3 2/3. She took the loss despite allowing just one earned run.

Junior Karissa Astrella drove in a pair of runs with a single and a bases-loaded walk, and freshman Sarah Schubert also singled in a run. Senior Courtney Simon scored three times.

In the second game, Muhlenberg jumped on Ohio Northern (5-1) with two runs in the top of the first, with Siclari and senior Sarah Merlo leading off with back-to-back singles and coming around when Astrella's ground ball was booted.

The Polar Bears came back to take a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh, when junior Hanna Caiola singled, went to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout. With two outs, the ONU first baseman dropped a throw from third on what should have been the last out of the game, allowing Caiola to score the tying run. 

Simon scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on a groundout by junior Amelia Shelley, but the Polar Bears tied it in the bottom of the inning. Schubert scored in the top of the ninth on Merlo's squeeze bunt to make it 5-4 Muhlenberg. The Polar Bears walked off with the win on a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth.

Freshman Nicole Bergamo did not allow an earned run in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Shelley recorded a pair of extra-base hits in the game, with a double and a triple.

The Mules had eight successful sacrifices in the two games, with Sweeney responsible for three of them.

pictured above: Shelley tags out a Concordia runner at the plate in the first game