CLERMONT, Fla. – The Plattsburgh State softball team snapped their losing streak with a strong offensive showing against Westminster, defeating the Westminster Blue Jays 9-5 in their second game of the day. The Cardinals began the day with a 13-6 loss to Amherst.

Mikayla Manalo (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) had six hits on the going 6-9 with a run scored and an RBI, also walking to reach base seven times. Gwen Noll (Massapequa, N.Y./St. Anthony's) reached base six times on the day, scoring four runs and driving in two runs as well.

Amherst, who beat Fredonia earlier in the day, moves to 6-2 on the season and takes on another State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) team in New Paltz on Mar. 21.

Game One: Amherst 13, Plattsburgh 6

A seven-run first inning for the Mammoths was the difference, as Amherst won game one 13-6. The Cardinal's offense had a strong day but could not keep up with the hot Mammoth bats.

Noll and Manalo each had three hit days, with Noll scoring two runs and stealing a base, while Manalo doubled. Megan Pillus (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Spackenkill) had another two hits, going 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Sarah Milyko (Goshen, N.Y./Chester) was 2-3 with a run scored.

Morgan Ormerod (Valatie, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) came on in relief to pitch six innings, allowing six runs and striking out two. On the other side. Dani Torres had a complete game win, allowing six runs with only four being earned, scattering 14 hits. Offensively for Amherst, Lulu Leppard drove in three runs and had two hits, and Anna Primozic had two hits, including a doubling, driving in two runs, scoring twice, and walking.

In the first inning, the Mammoths tallied seven runs on seven hits and two errors, taking a commanding lead as they sent 11 batters to the plate.

Plattsburgh State fought back in the first, as Noll singled and stole second and came around to score on a Sara Isaacs (Malta, N.Y./Shenendehowa) single to right-center.

A Primozic RBI double stretched the lead back to seven in the second inning for Amherst, and a wild pitch added another run to give them a 9-1 lead in the third. The Cardinals added a run in the third as well with an RBI groundout from Bella Toleman (Stillwater, N.Y./Stillwater), pushing the game back to a seven-run game.

The 9-2 score held until the bottom of the fifth, as Pillus scored on a wild pitch after Toleman doubled to put runners on second and third. Toleman came around to score on a sacrifice fly later in the inning, as the Cards now trailed 9-4. The Cards cut the lead to four in the sixth, as Noll scored in an error-riddled sixth for Amherst, as the team was now within striking distance.

In the seventh, however, two two-run singles, capped by one for, Leppard, stretch the Mammoth lead to 13-5.

Meghan Stork (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) drove in a run in the seventh with an RBI groundout, but the Cardinals could not mount an improbable comeback, falling 13-6.

Game Two: Plattsburgh 9, Westminster 5

Manalo and Noll led the way for the offense once again, working as catalysts for the offense as they scored nine runs to snap their five-game losing skid. Carly Gemmett (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie) made the nine runs stand with a complete game victory, registering her third game this season with double-digit strikeouts, as she fanned 10.

Manalo had three hits in game two as well, as she went 3-4 with an RBI, also registering a double and a walk. Noll reached safely three times, going 1-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and two RBI. Isaacs doubled and drove in three runs, while Leila Toomey (Commack, N.Y./Commack) was 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

For Westminster, Paige Cruzan and Kendall Weber had six of the team's nine hits while Weber drove in five of the team's runs. Cruzan was 4-5 with a run scored, doubling twice, while Weber had a double going 2-4. Raigan McKee had a solo homer for the Blue Jays as well.

The Cardinals wasted no time getting on the board as Noll walked to start the game, Manalo singled, and Isaacs doubled home Noll to put the team up 1-0. After a walk to Pillus with two outs, Manalo stole home, putting Plattsburgh State up 2-0.

Westminster responded with a run right away as well, as Cruzan and Weber doubled in back-to-back at-bats to start the game, but Gemmett worked around two walks after that to end the threat.

In the second, a Toomey single as well as walks to Noll and Manalo loaded the bases, and Isaacs scored Toomey with a sacrifice fly to extend the Cardinal's lead back to two runs.

The Blue Jays once again responded as Weber singled home a run for her second RBI of the game.

The game remained 3-2 until the bottom of the fourth when an RBI groundout from Weber tied the game at 3-3.

In the fifth, the Plattsburgh offense exploded, scoring six runs on five hits to take a comfortable lead. Alyssa Hemingway (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh) gave Plattsburgh the lead with an RBI double and after a walk, Toomey singled home a run to put the Cards up 5-3. Noll followed with a two-run single, and Manalo then followed with an RBI double to put the team up 8-3. Isaacs scored Noll in the following plate appearance with a sacrifice fly, giving the Cardinals a 9-3 lead.

Mckee homered to lead off the following half-inning, but Gemmett didn't let them add any more in the fifth or sixth as the Cards held the 9-4 lead. The Blue Jays threatened in the seventh as well, but Gemmett worked around an RBI double to seal the win for Plattsburgh State.