MELBOURNE, Fla. -- The Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers softball team ended their Florida trip with a split, defeating New England, 3-2, and falling to Misericordia with a score of 2-1 after eight innings. The team returns home with an overall record of 5-5 to start the season. 

The team got off to a strong start with a win in the first game of the day against New England. 

Kayla Schnippel singled to bring in a run by Emily Hodges to give Rose the early lead in the first inning. Abigale Shearer tripled to right field to bring around Schnippel to make the score 2-0. 

The Fightin' Engineers extended their lead in the third, after Shearer singled to score a run by Aubrey Smith to make the score 3-0. 

The Pilgrims battled back to make it a close game. New England scored a run in the fifth and a run in the sixth to cut the Rose-Hulman lead to 3-2. The Fightin' Engineers were able to close out the game in the seventh to secure the win. 

Shearer led the team, finishing perfect at the plate, going 2-2 with two RBIs. Schnippel was another difference maker, going 2-3 with one run and one RBI. 

Smith earned the win in the circle, pitching the entire 7.0 innings with five strikeouts. 

The second game proved to be a thrilling contest. After four scoreless innings, Misericordia took the lead after scoring a run in the sixth inning. 

Rose-Hulman answered in the sixth inning. Shearer tripled, setting up a sacrifice fly by Sarvis to knot the score at 1-1. 

After each team failed to score in the seventh, the game went into extra innings. The Fightin' Engineers were not able to convert any runs in the eighth, which led to the Cougars ending the game with a double that brought in the game-winning score with a final of 2-1. 

Schnippel led the team at the plate, finishing 2-3. Both Hodges and Shearer ended the game going 2-4, with Shearer scoring the lone run. 

Audrey Theuring had a strong performance in the circle, pitching the entire 8.0 innings with two strikeouts. 

Rose-Hulman will return home for their home opener on Saturday, March 21, at 1 PM and 3 PM against Greenville.