CLERMONT, Fla. – The 2014 softball season officially got underway on Monday morning as Mount Ida College played two games at the National Training Center Tournament in Clermont, Florida.

The Mustangs suffered two hard-fought defeats, falling 8-2 to WPI to open the year before dropping an 11-5 decision to Sage College.

Game 1: WPI 8, Mount Ida 2

Mount Ida scored the first run of the game in the top of the first on an RBI single that plated Michele MacDonald (North Dighton Mass.), who had three hits in the game, the beginning of a stellar opening day for the first year outfielder.

Senior Kirsten Guerrero (Fairfield, Conn.) collected the RBI to put Mount Ida on top, but WPI scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good.

Guerrero and Shannon McArthur (Coventry, R.I.) each went 2-3 in the game and MacDonald scored twice while also stealing a base.

The top of the Engineer's lineup combined for seven hits and four runs scored, while designated player Lauren DiFelice drove in three runs, including two of them on a double in the bottom of the first.

Mount Ida first year Nicole Handzel (Palmer, Mass.) made her first start, allowing just four earned runs over six innings of work and collected two strikeouts without issuing a free pass.

WPI starter Caroline Medino went the distance, scattering ten hits and two earned runs, with no walks or strikeouts in the victory.

Game 2: Sage 11, Mount Ida 5

The Mustangs fell behind 3-1 after the second inning and fell to 0-2 on the year, despite another two-hit game from MacDonald, who also swiped another base.

Senior Meg Hall (Danielson, Conn.) tripled home pitcher Kaitlyn Muhlenforth (Bohemia, N.Y.) to put Mount Ida on the board in the bottom of the second, after the Gators had grabbed three runs in the top of the inning, two of them on a two-run single by Kristen Beikirch.

Sage tacked on five more runs in the fourth, when they got back to back triples by Frankie Pearson and Beikirch, though the Mustangs grabbed two back in the bottom of the fourth on a wild pitch that scored Nickole Soto (Marlboro, Mass.), who had two hits and scored twice in the game, and a bases loaded walk to McArthur.

Soto scored again in the fifth on another wild pitch, and the Mustangs notched their final run of the game in the bottom of the last inning, when pinch hitter Kaitlyn Berube (Fall River, Mass.) drove in Guerrero with a sacrifice fly.

Katie Kovage pitched all but two-thirds of an inning for WPI, striking out three batters and allowing just three runs on eight hits and no walks.

Muhlenforth suffered the loss, going 4.2 innings and allowing 11 runs on 12 hits and 5 walks.

The Mustangs are back on the field with a pair of games today, facing Becker at 3:00 pm and Wheaton (Ill.) at 7:00 PM.