Clermont, Fla.- The Slippery Rock University softball team dropped a pair of games on the first day of the National Training Center Tournament from Clermont, Florida.

SRU fell behind early and never recovered from a 1-0 loss to the University of Charleston in the opener, and went on to suffer an 8-3 loss to Minnesota State University later in the afternoon.

Senior Katie Kaiser led the SRU offense by going 3-for-6 with a run on the day. Senior Megan Maloney added two hits, one run and two stolen bases to round out the top offensive performers for The Rock.

Junior Carly DeRose was saddled with a loss in the first game, while sophomore Brooke Dawson took the loss in Game Two. Sophomore Paige Flore also saw action in the circle against Minnesota State.

Game One: Charleston 1, Slippery Rock 0
In the first game of the day, Charleston scored one run in the top of the third inning and held The Rock to just two hits.

DeRose issued five walks and struck out one across 5.1 innings. Dawson came in for relief and fanned one.

Game Two: Minnesota State 8, Slippery Rock 3
The Mavericks had three hits and three runs in the opening inning to take an early lead in Game Two.

Senior Stacey Herzog had a two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning that scored Kaiser and Maloney to cut it to 3-2.

Minnesota State recorded three hits and two runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 5-2. Sophomore Emily Nagle had a hit and stolen base in the bottom of the inning.

The Mavericks put together four hits and three runs in their final inning. The Rock recorded one run and one hit in a last chance effort at the bottom of the seventh.  

Dawson struck out six and walked two in six innings of action. Flore came in for the final inning and struck out two.
 
SRU will take on Saint Joseph's College and Minnesota Duluth tomorrow afternoon.