CLERMONT, Fla. — The Middlebury College softball team opened its season in Clermont, Fla., by winning five of eight games between last Friday and Tuesday.
The Panthers were set to wrap up their Florida trip with two more games on Wednesday before returning north for optimistically scheduled doubleheaders at Castleton on Saturday and at Union on Tuesday.
Middlebury opened with two low-scoring losses on Friday, 3-1 to Plymouth State and 3-0 to Benedictine.
In the opener, Plymouth State plated two unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning. Middlebury scored in the sixth on a Sarah Freyre triple and an Erin Giles single, but Plymouth got the run back in the bottom of the frame.
Irene Margiotta went the distance in the circle for Middlebury, allowing one earned run on four hits. Siobhan O’Sullivan had two hits for Middlebury, and Taylor Gardner doubled.
In the second game, Panther hurler Allison Quigley allowed three runs (two earned) over six innings on five hits, but was outdueled by Benedictine’s Holly Haberkorn, who tossed a five-hit shutout with five strikeouts and no walks. Melanie Mandell doubled twice for Middlebury.
On Saturday, the Panthers bounced back with two wins, 3-0 over SUNY-New Paltz and 11-2 over Buffalo State.
The Panthers scored twice in the opener in the top of the fifth on a Freyre double and RBI singles by Olivia Bravo and Mandell. In the sixth, Marybeth Stone singled and scored on a Bravo triple to create the final score.
Quigley tossed a complete-game three-hit shutout, striking out six. Mandell stroke three hits and drove in a run, and Bravo drove in two runs with two hits and scored once.
 In the day’s second game, Buffalo State scored runs in the first and second before Margiotta shut the door; she allowed three hits with five strikeouts and three walks as the Panthers rallied for the five-inning victory.
Leading the Panther attack were Mandell, with two doubles, two runs and an RBI; Taylor Gardner, with two hits, two RBI and two runs; and Freyre, with two hits, two runs and an RBI. Kati Daczkowski, Stone, Hye-Jin Kim and Margiotta contributed RBI hits.
The Panthers split a pair of games on Sunday, defeating Thomas, 11-0, in five innings, before falling to MIT, 8-2.
Margiotta picked up the shutout win vs. Thomas allowing five hits with three strikeouts in four innings. Gardner pitched a scoreless fifth inning.
Mandell doubled twice, homered, drove in three runs and scored twice. Freyre drilled a two-run homer, singled twice and scored twice. Bravo poked a three-run homer, singled twice and scored twice, and Ali Della Volpe finished with three hits and scored twice.
In game two, MIT scored four runs in the second, three in the fifth and one in the sixth. Middlebury got on the board in the fifth when O’Sullivan doubled and scored on a throwing error, and added an unearned run in the sixth.
Daczkowski had two of Middlebury’s three hits. Quigley took the loss, allowing 11 hits and seven runs (three earned) over five innings with three strikeouts. Margiotta allowed a run in two innings.
On Tuesday, the Panthers picked up two five-inning wins vs. Maine-Farmington, 15-3 and 10-0.
Margiotta (3-1) earned the win for Middlebury in the opener, allowing three runs (two earned) over five innings.
Giles led the Panthers, doubling twice, singling, scoring twice and driving in two runs scored. Stone doubled twice, and Gardner picked up two hits and scored three times. Bravo drilled a two-run triple, and Ally Doll, Daczkowski and Gardner poked RBI singles.
Quigley (2-2) notched her second shutout in the nightcap, yielding two hits in five innings and whiffing seven.
The Panthers broke open the game with a seven-run second inning that included a Stone two-run homer and RBI doubles by Daczkowski and Gardner.
O’Sullivan added three hits in the game, scoring twice and poking an RBI double.