PLANT CITY, Fla. --- The Ave Maria softball team dropped their first games of the season on Friday afternoon, falling to Olivet Nazarene 5-3 and 7-5. AMU returns to action tomorrow when they take on Point at 12 p.m.
 
Olivet Nazarene got the scoring started in game one, scoring two runs in the top of the first. Kalie Romig scored the first run of the game for the Lady Gyrenes when she scored on a throw to second to try to get the stealing Deanna Stirtzinger.
 
The Tigers added a run in the second and two runs in the fourth to take a 5-1 edge on Ave Maria.
 
The Lady Gyrenes cut the deficit to three in the fourth when Michella Davis scored on a wild pitch. Stirtzinger drove in the final run of the game for AMU in the seventh on an RBI single to score Geiger.
 
Geiger took the loss in game one, allowing four runs on nine hits over four innings. Brooke Pierron pitched three scoreless innings in relief.
 
In the second game of the afternoon, Ave Maria tallied five runs in the second inning to jump out to an early lead. Abigail Love drove in the first run on an RBI bunt single to drive in Pierron. Destinee Elmore then reached on a fielder's choice allowing Davis to score on an error by the Olivet Nazarene catcher. A two-RB single by Genevieve Twigg and an RBI double by Stirtzinger made the score 5-0.
 
The Tigers scored a run in the third and two in the fourth to get within two. Olivet Nazarene scored four runs in the sixth to take a 7-5 lead on the Lady Gyrenes.
 
Pierron pitched 5.1 innings and allowed five earned runs in the loss.