CLERMONT, Fla. – It was a difficult day on the diamond for the Plattsburgh State softball team as the Cardinals committed six errors in a pair of non-conference setbacks to Western Connecticut State and Amherst College at the NTC Training Complex on Monday afternoon.

The Cardinals fell 10-4 to Western Conn., before dropping an 8-2 decision to the Lord Jeffs later in the day. Plattsburgh State's 2015 record now sits at 2-4. 

GAME ONE: Western Connecticut State 10 (4-2), Plattsburgh State 4 (3-2)
Hits and runs weren't hard to come by early on for the Cardinals, but the Colonials dug out of an early 4-0 deficit by plating all 10 of their runs in four innings.

Three of the five Plattsburgh State hits came in the first as both Brittany Marshall and Jacqueline Decker registered singles before sophomore Hope Van Brocklin put her team on the board with a two-run single.

Plattsburgh State saw its 2-0 edge double in the top of the third when one of two Colonial errors in the frame allowed Decker and Marshall to cross home plate again.

Kristin Fisher came out in a nice groove early on, retiring the first five batters she faced. The senior ran into trouble in the bottom of the third, though, as Kristen Sliman led off the frame with a solo homer.

The long ball was one of four hits Western Connecticut would rack up in the inning, but it looked as though Fisher would keep the damage to a minimum when she induced a sacrifice fly for the second out.

Still up 4-2, the Cardinals saw Emily Cintorino swing the momentum further in favor of the designated home team when her two-run single locked the score at four apiece.

Cintorino was at it again in the fifth as she drove home what would hold up as the game-winning run with a one-out RBI single. Western Connecticut added the final five runs of the game on five hits, three walks and an error in the sixth.

Marshall and Van Brocklin each produced two hits for the Cardinals while Fisher suffered the loss, working 3.1 innings and giving up four earned runs.

Sliman and Cintorino combined to go 5-for-6 at the plate with seven RBI and two runs scored. The latter was a dominant presence in the circle, too, as she fired a complete game. She surrendered just five hits and amassed 10 strikeouts.

GAME TWO: Amherst 8 (2-1), Plattsburgh State 2 (2-4)
Trying to get the offense going against the Lord Jeffs proved to be a tough task for the Cardinals as they recorded just four hits in their second tilt of the day.

Amherst jumped out to a 2-0 lead by plating one run each in the third and fourth frames, but an RBI groundout by Decker allowed the Cardinals to pull within one before the fourth inning came to a close.

That was the way the score stayed until a trio of Plattsburgh State errors caused some problems in the top of the sixth. Those three miscues led to three Amherst runs – all of which were unearned – which gave the Lord Jeffs a 5-0 edge.

Donna Leet delivered the final blow for Amherst when her three-run inside-the-park home run in the seventh pushed the lead to 8-1.

Decker came around to score once more in the home half of the seventh, but that was the final run Plattsburgh State would score.

All in all, it was the errors that doomed Plattsburgh State as all but one of the Lord Jeffs' runs were of the unearned variety.

Jackie Buechler (1-0) earned the win, firing six innings of three-hit softball and fanning seven.

Lauren Graves took the loss, going three innings.

After a one-day hiatus on Tuesday, the Cardinals will be right back at it on Wednesday morning when they take on Benedictine University at 5 p.m. and Western New England University at 7 p.m.