CLERMONT, Fla. – The Macalester College softball team opened its Spring Break trip to Florida with losses to SUNY Geneseo, 6-2 and St. Lawrence, 1-0 at THE Spring Games Sunday afternoon at Legends Softball Complex. The Scots, who will play a total of 10 games in Florida, are now 2-6 on the season.

In the day's first game, Macalester struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Joia Simonson (Pardeeville, Wis./Portage) led off the inning with a walk, stole second and came home on a triple by senior Mackenzie Clarke (Redwood City, Calif./Sequoia). Clarke later stole home on a perfectly-executed, double-steal play with first year Sophie Futchko (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) for a 2-0 lead. SUNY-Geneseo scored a run in the top of the fifth, then had runners on first and second with two out in the top of the seventh. An error allowed one run to score, and a two-run double by Rebecca Schwartz gave the Knights a 4-2 lead. Two more runs in the inning put SUNY Geneseo ahead 6-2, and the Knights retired the Scots in order in the bottom of the seventh.

First year pitcher Kaitlyn Pistorius (Parker, Colo./Legend) allowed four hits and six runs, one earned, while striking out six and walking four in 6 2/3 innings. Clarke's triple was the only hit of the game for the Scots.

Against St. Lawrence, the Saints scored a run on a walk and two singles in the bottom of the first inning. Macalester put runners in scoring position in every inning except the first and sixth innings but was unable to get the key hit. Senior Emily Bergin (Houston, Texas/St. Thomas Episcopal School) singled in the second, and Simonson doubled in the seventh for the Scots' two hits of the game.

Simonson turned in a solid pitching performance, scattering five hits and allowing one run in six innings.

The Scots play Coe College and Springfield College on Monday, Mar. 14, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern at Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex in Leesburg, Fla.