ORLANDO, Fla. - The Monmouth Unversity softball team had their five-game winning streak snapped when they dropped two contests at the Rebel Games on Friday afternoon, a 7-1 decision to Tennessee State and a 3-2 setback at the hands of Valparaiso. The Hawks' fall to 5-3 on the season and wrap up their stay in Florida on Saturday.

Against Tennessee State, MU starting pitcher Heather Gordon (Hatboro, Pa./Mount St. Joseph's) allowed six earned runs in 4.1 innings before giving way to Danielle Ellement (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Newbury Park), who allowed an unearned run in her 2.2 innings of relief work.

Lee Simonetti (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes) led the way for the MU offense by going 4-4 with a pair of infield singles and a double in the game.

Kristine Sawlsville (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson) pitched a complete game, three-hitter without giving up an earned run, but was still saddled with the loss in MU's defeat to Valpo. Monmouth scored first in the game when Alexa Ferrara (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) led off the third inning with a single, and was chased home by a Simonetti double to up MU on top, 1-0.

The Hawks' went up 2-0 behind Kara O'Dell's (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley) solo home run, Monmouth's first round-tripper of the season, in the fourth inning. Valpo answered with three runs off two MU errors in their half of the fourth to take the 3-2 lead, which would stand up.

Candice Palumbo (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) went 2-3, but Nichole Alvarez (Brick, N.J./Brick Twp.) was caught stealing for the first time in her collegiate career.

Monmouth returns to action when they conclude their stay at the Rebel Games on Saturday when they take on IPFW at 1 p.m. and Georgetown at 5 p.m.

Pictured: Sophomore Lee Simonetti