LONGWOOD, Fla. – Riley Piromalli was stellar in her season debut in the circle, and Kylee Amato had a three-hit game when the Bentley softball team beat Chadron State, 3-1, in the 2024 season-opening day Friday. The Falcons lost to Florida Tech, 5-3, in the first game of the day.

Bentley 3, Florida Tech 5

Sabrina Grizzaffi had a multi-hit game, and Jordan Krause drove in two runs, but Florida Tech's four-run fourth inning was too much for the Falcons to overcome.

Bentley scored the game's first run in the top of the second inning. Gabriella Longo led off with a single. Although she was thrown out at second on fielder's choice by Jess Morrison, Bentley quickly had a runner in scoring position when Morrison stole second. Grizzaffi's single up the middle allowed Morrison to round third and reach home.

The Panthers answered back with a run in the third inning, and then they rallied for four runs in the fourth.

Bentley threatened to match Florida Tech's big rally in the fifth stanza. Grizzaffi led off with a single, and Morgan Fraitzl followed by drawing a walk. Two batters later, Amato drew a walk to load the bases. Krause ripped a two-run single to left-center, cutting the deficit to 5-3. However, those were the last runs of the game for Bentley.

Bentley 3, Chadron State 1

Piromalli allowed only one run in a complete-game effort to lead the Falcons to their first win of 2024. She struck out five, walked one, and scattered six hits.

Chadron St. jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but it wouldn't gain much traction after that.

The Falcons evened up the score in the third inning when Krause smacked an RBI single down the third-base line. Amato, who had three hits while batting leadoff, scored the run after hitting a double.

Bentley added two more runs in the fourth inning. Morrison reached base on an error that put her in scoring position. She came around to score on a single by Jacqueline Cupoli.

Cupoli took third base on a groundout, and another Chadron St. miscue allowed her to score to make it a 3-1 Bentley lead.

Cupoli and Hailey Feiler both went 2-for-2 at the plate, while Amato went 3-for-4.