LEESBURG, Fla. - UC Riverside softball dropped a pair of contests on Friday afternoon at The Spring Games in Florida, falling 3-2 to Southern Illinois and 7-2 to Ohio State.  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• UC Riverside struck first against the Salukis on a perfectly executed double steal. Kat Montuya singled to left and put runners on the corners with the speedy Nadia Witt 60 feet from home plate, then swiped second right before Witt trotted home to put a run on the board for UCR.  
• Southern Illinois responded with a run of its own in the second inning before defense and pitching took center stage until the seventh inning. UCR retired eight of SIU's next 10 batters between Briza Blanco and Alexis Galvan; Blanco relieved Galvan in the circle in the fourth and put up a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth.  
• Witt put UCR in the driver's seat in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI triple to center field before Southern Illinois secured the win in the bottom half of the frame.  
• The Highlanders later raced out to a 2-0 lead over Ohio State through two innings on a wild pitch and a single from Witt that resulted in Leah Brito touching home on a botched play from the Buckeye catcher.   
• Rebeca Cabezas went 2 for 3 against the Buckeyes, collecting two of UCR's six hits in the latter half of the day.  

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS 

• Witt now has three RBIs in three games in Florida and enters Saturday 5 for 11 at The Spring Games with a run, a double and a triple.  
• Kamryn Davis now has two runs in three games in Florida after scoring the go-ahead run on Witt's triple against Southern Illinois.  

UP NEXT 

• UCR is back on the diamond on Friday against a pair of Big Ten teams in Penn State and Illinois. First pitch against the Nittany Lions is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. PST before UCR battles the Illini at noon PST.