Clermont, Fla. - March 13, 2022 - Playing out of region for the first time in over 1,000 days and dating back to 2019, the Springfield College softball team toppled Roger Williams, 5-2, and blanked Mt. St. Mary, 5-0, in its opening games of the Rebel Games in Florida on Sunday morning. 

Springfield is schedule to play two more games on Monday morning, taking on Hood at 10:15 am and Macalester at 12:45 pm.

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Springfield 5, Roger Williams 2
Gillian Kane (New Canaan, Conn.) earned the win in the circle as she scattered six hits in five innings of work before Emily Gell (Trumbull, Conn.) came in to get the two-inning save as she struck out a pair and didn't surrender a hit. In her Springfield College debut, Sam Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) drove in four runs, while Callie Gendron (Berlin, Conn.), Alli Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.), and Ava Fernandez (Cedar Grove, N.J.) each registered a pair of hits.  

Roger Williams jumped on the board first in the second inning with a two-out single down the left field line that plated a pair.  Springfield responded with three runs in the third, as the frame started with base knocks from Fernandez and Mackenzie Doyle (Glocester, R.I.).  Two batters later, Witmer smashed a two-run double to tie the game up before singles from Gendron and Breannah McCann (San Diego, Calif.) allowed Witmer to score the eventual game-winning run.  

The Pride added two insurance runs in the sixth as it took advantage of a pair of fielding errors by the Hawks.  With the bases loaded, Witmer unleashed a two-run single to push Springfield's cushion to 5-3 as it held on for the season-opening victory. 

Springfield 5, Roger Williams 0
Ashley Pugliese (Huntington Station, N.Y.) picked up right where she left off last season as she produced a complete-game, three-hit shutout to go along with a pair of strikeouts. The Pride managed 10 hits in the contest, including two from Mackenzie Doyle (Glocester, R.I.), Alli Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.), and Katie Leacoma (Walpole, Mass.).  

In the first inning, Olsen ripped a one-out double and moved to third on a wild pitch befor Sam Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) collected her fifth RBI of the day with a run-scoring groundout. Springfield kept the Knights off the board in the bottom half of the frame on a terrific relay and play at the plate by Callie Gendron (Berlin, Conn.).

Springfield added two runs in the fourth, getting a two-run double from Lucy Puskas (Roxbury, Conn.) that came with two outs as she plated Leacoma and Dana Serricchio (Stamford, Conn.).  Gendron would later get into the action in the seventh as she followed Witmer's triple with her first career homer as she powered a ball over the centerfield fence to give the Pride its winning 5-0 advantage.