ORLANDO, Fla. – For the second straight day, the SIUE softball team split a pair of games at the UCF Holiday Tournament at the UCF Softball Complex.

"I liked our competiveness today," Head Coach Sandy Montgomery said. "We had good team chemistry and we didn't get down on ourselves.  We kept at it, and when you do that you give yourself a chance to win."

In the Cougars' first game of the day, SIUE (5-13) defeated Stetson by a score of 6-5.

The Cougars got out to a five-run lead after an offensive outburst in the second inning. 

Brittany Toney got things going with an RBI single to score Alex McDavid, before Jordan LaFave followed with a bases-clearing double that plated Chelsea Yankolovich, Kayla Riggs, and Toney.  Allison Smiley capped off the inning with an RBI double to score LaFave.

"I thought McDavid busted out today a little bit which was nice to see," Montgomery said.

The Hatters (8-3) would mount a comeback, eventually tying the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI single from Kayla Drury.

But SIUE came right back to score the deciding run in the next half inning, with Smiley continuing her impressive start to the season with an RBI single to plate LaFave once again.

"We battled all day," Montgomery said.  "We made some progress today and that was something we really needed to do.  This is a tough level to play at, but Smiley came up big for us."

Later, the Cougars fell 5-1 to tournament host UCF (10-7).

SIUE held a 1-0 lead after a half inning of play after Yankolovich reached base with a lead-off single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

But the Knights, trying to avenge a 3-2 defeat against SIUE a day earlier, responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead.

UCF added three more runs in the sixth inning behind a home run from Lena Springer to seal the win.

"Give their pitcher credit, she pitched well against us," Montgomery said.  "Speed got the best of us a couple times, but overall I thought we competed well.  It's tough to beat the same team twice in one weekend."

The Cougars will wrap up the weekend with their fifth and final game of the weekend on Sunday, as they take on Princeton at 11 a.m. CT.