CLERMONT, Fla. – The Calvin softball team finished its spring break portion of its schedule on Friday afternoon. The Knights were edged by Buffalo State 6-5 and rebounded to finish the trip with a 2-1 victory over New Paltz State. Calvin went 6-4 in Florida and improves to 9-5 on the season.

Calvin beat Buffalo State onto the scoreboard on Friday with a pair of runs in the third inning. Jordan VanEerden beat the throw to home to give the Knights the lead. Sophomore Anna Gernant (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) flied out to left field to score sophomore Maddie DeGroot (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian).

In the top of the fifth inning, the Knights started the scoring with a blast over the centerfield fence from freshman Katie Mumby. Sophomore Rachel Borden (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) singled in freshman Jordan VanEerden (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) to make it 4-0. Junior Kaley Frank (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) flied out to center field to score Maddie DeGroot.

The Bengals would bite back in the fifth and tie the game at five.

"We jumped out with the lead but again we couldn't finish the deal," said head coach Becky Hilgert. "As a team we must collectively get better at playing a full seven inning game."

A bloop single down the rightfield line won the game for Buffalo State in the bottom of the seventh.

Anna Gernant had another strong outing with 13 strikeouts and finishing with only one earned run.

Maddie DeGroot finished with a game-high three hits.

The Knights found themselves on the winning side of a defensive battle against New Paltz State. Anchored by a strong performance in the circle by senior Paige Groom (Potterville, Mich./Potterville) and Anna Gernant. The duo only allowed five hits in the game and no earned runs. Groom finished with two strikeouts and Anna Gernant recorded three.

"Paige had a great outing and our defense kept us in the game while our offense struggle to string hits together," said Hilgert. "It was an exciting defense battle and we fought hard to come away with the win."

Sophomore Kristen Newman (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) scored on a wild pitch in the third inning to give the Knights the lead.

In the seventh inning, Rachel Borden threw out the would-be tying run from left field. The Hawks would tie the game later in the inning.

After Kaley Frank moved junior Jessica Brasser (Rockford, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) to third base in the eighth inning. Anna Gernant sent the ball to the gap in right-center to give the Knights the lead they would not give back.

Kristen Newman led all batters with two hits.

"We have a young team which faced some adversity and pressure situations this week," said Hilgert. "Each day we are learning more and more about each other and we are excited to get back home and get back to work."

The Knights return home on Tuesday to host a double-header against Wheaton.