KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Thiel College softball team split a pair of games Sunday during the first day of competition in the Sunkissed Games in Kissimmee, Fla.
 
The Tomcats fell to the Montclair Red Hawks Sunday morning in five innings (10-1) before finishing the day with a 6-4 win over the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets.
 
Against Baldwin Wallace, Miranda Reesman (Vandergrift, Pa./Leechburg) staked Thiel to a 1-0 lead when she singled and drove in Vanessa Falce (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) in the first inning.
 
The Tomcats extended their lead to 3-1 in the top of the fifth on RBI-singles by Madison Fullmer (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) and Leah Woytek (Hillsville, Pa./Mohawk). However, the Yellow Jackets bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Thiel added three more runs in the top of the sixth, two of which were thanks to freshman first baseman Bailey Hoover (Smock, Pa./Uniontown), who doubled to left field. Baldwin Wallace went on to get two of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Leading by two runs (6-4) in the bottom of the seventh, senior pitcher Shannon Baker (Corry, Pa./Corry) got out of a bases-load jam with two outs when Hailey Owens looked at a called third strike.
 
Baker, who earned the win in her first appearance with the Tomcats, struck out nine batters. She allowed four earned runs on 12 hits. Abby Cosart took the loss for Baldwin Wallace. She allowed five runs, four of which were earned, on seven hits.
 
Reesman and Hoover both went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a double against Baldwin Wallace. Falce went 2-for-4 and scored a pair of runs.
 
In the first game of the day Montclair took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but Thiel got that run back in the bottom of the frame when sophomore right fielder Quinn Ursprung (Bel Air, Md./C Milton Wright) singled to center field to score Reesman.
 
Montclair kept Thiel off the scoreboard over the next three innings and went on to score four runs in the third, two in the second and three in the fifth to earn the win.
 
Falce led the Tomcats against the Red Hawks with a 2-for-3 performance. Noel Hodgins, Amber Powers and Alana Luna each collected two hits for Montclair.
 
Kiara Ruiz earned the win for the Red Hawks. She allowed one earned run over five innings with five strikeouts.
 
Thiel (1-1) will continue play in the Sunkissed Games Monday. The Tomcats will face Ohio Northern at 9 a.m. and Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 11:15 a.m.