KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- After rallying for four runs in the top of the fifth inning of its second game Thursday, the Amherst College softball team hung on for a 10-8 victory over Meredith College, salvaging a split after a difficult 4-3 extra-inning loss to Wheaton (Mass.) earlier in the day.

The early Thursday loss ended the Mammoths five-game win streak, but the nightcap victory over Meredith improved Amherst to 6-2 overall on the season. 

Friday, the Mammoths take on the University of New England at 11 a/m/ and the University of Southern Maine at 2 p.m.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS

Amherst struck for five runs in the first. Rachel Lovejoy walked and scored on a two-base error. Sadie Pool ripped a double to score Autumn Lee, who had reached on that two-base error. Junior Randi Finkelstein followed with a two-run home run for a 4-0 lead. An America Rangel single to right and subsequent error allowed the fifth run to score. 

Meredith scored two in the first, one in the third and two in the fourth to tie the score 5-all. But Amherst answered quickly with a four-run fifth to take a 9-5 lead. With two outs, Rangel beat out an infield roller for a single that scored Pool, who led off the frame with a single. Audrey Orlowski followed with an RBI-double to left for a 7-5 lead. Megan Taketa then drilled a two-run double down the left-field line for the four-run advantage. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

*  Four players had two hits each for the Mammoths. Taketa was 2 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 RBI. Rangel was 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Dani Torres Werra was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Pool was 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. 

* The win went to first-year Dylan Briggs. 

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS:

* Down 3-0 after 5 1/2 innings, the Mammoths rallied to force extra innings with a run in the sixth and two in the seventh.

* In the sixth, Finkelstein stung a solo home run to make it a 3-1 game. The junior has homered three times in the last two days, over a span of four games. 

* In the seventh. Torres Werra had a one-out single. With two outs, Taketa kept the game alive with another single. Lovejoy then ripped a single to center to score Torres Werra and send Taketa to third. A wild pitch brought home Taketa with the tying run. 

* Torres Werra was the tough-luck loser after allowing an unearned run in the top of the eigth. She went four, allowed four hits, did not walk a batter and struck out three. 

* Torres Werra was 2 for 2 in the game and Finkelstein 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored.