CLERMONT, Fla. - After three weeks without a game played because of weather not cooperating, the Truman State University softball team headed south to The Sunshine State for the first two of eight games in five days for spring break. The Bulldogs dropped the trip's opener, 5-1, to Cedarville before the bats came to life in the nightcap win over Seton Hill in five innings, 8-0.

On the day, five Bulldogs tallied multiple hits including Alyssa Rivera (pictured/3-for-5), Emma Walbert (2-for-5), Brooke VunCannon (2-for-5), Adrienne Compton (2-for-5), and Christa Reisinger (2-for-6). As a team, Truman hit .289 with 13 knocks in its 45 at-bats including three home runs, all of which came in the run-rule win over Seton Hill.

Against Cedarville, Truman struck first thanks to Walbert's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first that pushed across Reisinger. However, that would be all the scoring for the Bulldogs as the Yellow Jackets scored two in the second, two in the third and another in the fifth.

Lauren Dale (2-1) lasted just two innings and gave up four earned runs on three hits with three walks and no strikeouts. In relief, Rachael Kernich made her collegiate debut and made it a good one with just one earned run surrendered in five innings to go with not a single free pass and four punchouts.

In the nightcap, Truman's offense made up for lost time with four runs in the first, two in the third and two more in the fifth to make it an eight-run lead for the run rule. Rivera got the party started with a sacrifice fly before she (two-run HR), Compton (three-run HR) and Morgan McMahan (two-run HR) each went deep to seal the victory.

Kernich (1-0) picked up her first career win with three shutout, one-hit innings including one strikeout and Alyssa Hajduk closed it out with two perfect innings and three punchouts.

Next up, Truman will face California (Pa.) and Dominican College on Saturday with first pitch set for 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. eastern time, respectively.

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