TITUSVILLE, Fla. - The Martin Luther College softball teams closed its week-long Florida trip with a split on Friday. The Knights lost the morning game 9-0 against Shawnee State, but came back to defeat College of St. Joseph 7-3 in the finale.

Shawnee State 9, MLC 0 (5 innings)

The Knights fell behind big early and were never able to recover in a 9-0 loss to Shawnee State to start the day.

The Bears scored four times in the first inning off MLC starting pitcher Rebecca Pruss (0-4), and then added five more the rest of the way to secure the win.

The defense for MLC was sloppy as they committed a season-worst five errors, leading to six of the Bears' nine runs being unearned. 

MLC was held to two hits in the game on offense.

MLC 7, CSJ 3

MLC came back from an early three-run deficit to earn its first win of the season by the score of 7-3 against College of St. Joseph.

The Fighting Saints scored twice in the first inning and once more in the second against MLC starter Morgan Palubicki, but the Knights took control from there, pounding 10 hits and scoring seven unanswered runs to close the game.

Megan Lemke led the charge at the plate for MLC with three hits, including a two-run triple in the third inning and a two-run single in the fifth frame. Kayla Rosenbaum and Audrey Timm each finished with two hits and one run batted in, while Samantha Schoch scored two runs to go with one hit.

Palubicki went the distance on the mound for MLC, allowing only two earned runs on eight hits to score her first win of the season.

The Knights improved to 1-7 on the season with the split and will return to action back in Minnesota when they face Bethany Lutheran in a non-conference double header on March 26.