LAKELAND, Fla. – The Southwest Minnesota State softball team (1-6) opened its Florida trip on Saturday afternoon, splitting a pair of games against the Florida Southern Mocs (9-7)  at Chris Bellotto Field. 
 
FSC won the first game 7-3, while the Mustangs took game two, 8-5, in 10 innings. 
 
In the game two victory, SMSU strung together five singles to open the 10^th inning, scoring four runs and holding FSC to a single run to win their first game of the season. 
 
The Mustangs opened the scoring in the first inning of game one as Jillian Noel drove a two-out double down the left field line, scoring Abby Russell and taking a 1-0 lead. 
 
FSC evened the scoring in the second, reaching on an error to lead off the inning before driving a two-out single to left, driving in the unearned run and making it 1-1. 
 
The Mustangs took the lead right back in the third. Riley Kramolisch kept the inning alive with a two-out infield single, and Shelby Bloemendaal helped her cause with a doble to left center, scoring Kramolisch and taking the lead back at 2-1. 
 
The Mocs responded in the fourth, opening the inning with a triple, double, single, and sac bunt, scoring a pair of runs and taking a 3-2 lead. 
 
The next threat came in the sixth inning. After Noel reached on an error and a Molly Bull walk, Abby Boxrud sent a base knock to center, loading the bases with one out. 
 
Paige Ahrendt tied the game the next at bat, squibbing a spinner in front of home plate, but far enough from the reach of the pitcher to allow Noel to come in from third and keep the bases loaded, with the score now 3-3. 
 
FSC put the game away in the bottom of the inning, stringing a pair of singles and a pair of doubles together to open the inning and score a pair of runs before a sac fly with one out brought the game to its final score of 7-3. 
 
Bloemendaal (0-3) was dealt the loss in the circle, allowing 13 hits and seven runs (six earned), while walking one and striking out one. 
 
The offense was split, as SMSU recorded seven hits from seven different players, and three runs driven in by three different Mustangs. 
 
The game two scoring was started by the Mocs, bringing in a pair in the bottom of the second inning. 
 
The Mustangs scored the equalizer in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Boxrud rolled one in between the second and first basemen. The ball would be bobbled before being thrown away, with Bloemendaal and Noel scoring in the process to tie the game at 2-2. 
 
With one out in the fifth, FSC retook the lead with a sac fly, making the score 3-2. 
 
In her next at-bat, Boxrud tied the score again, sending a two-out single to right, scoring Noel and making it 3-3. 
 
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, FSC reclaimed the lead, taking advantage of a dropped pop fly to go ahead 4-3.
 
Katie Palmer entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and wasted no time getting acclimated, smashing a single to left and advancing to second on a sac bunt. 
 
Russell would then deliver, sending a single up the middle, scoring Palmer and tying the game back up at 4-4. 
 
The Mustangs would get runners on the corners with two outs, but Noel got robbed of an RBI with a diving effort from the right fielder to keep the game knotted, and there would not be another run before the Mustangs barrage in the 10^th . 
 
Singles from Bloemendaal, Noel, Bull, Boxrud, and Ahrendt resulted in three runs, and a Palmer sac fly added another to put SMSU in front 8-4 into the bottom of the inning. 
 
The Mocs would score their free runner to cut it to three, but it was the only run scored in the inning and brought the game to its final score. 
 
SMSU mustered 11 hits in game two, with Noel and Boxrud combining to go 5 for 10, and Noel scoring three runs. 
 
Allison Christians (1-0) earned the victory, throwing five innings and allowing a pair of unearned runs on four hits and three walks. 
 
SMSU returns to action Sunday morning, taking on Kentucky Wesleyan at 11 a.m. ET, before a matchup with Walsh (Ohio) at 1:30 p.m. ET.