Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT MYERS, Florida—The Prairie Fire softball team went 1-1 on the opening day of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.

Knox (2-4) defeated Southern Vermont College 10-2 in their opening game.  However, the Prairie Fire fell to Nichols College 7-2 to close out their first day of games at the GCCC.
 
Knox opened the scoring early against Southern Vermont by scoring a run in the first inning.  The Prairie Fire added another run in the bottom of fourth to take a 2-0 lead into the fifth.  Southern Vermont responded by scoring two in the top half of the  fifth to tie the score at 2-2.  Knox then answered with an offensive explosion pushing across eight runs in the bottom half of the fifth to defeat Southern Vermont 10-2.
 
The second game saw the Prairie Fire take on Nichols College.  Knox fell behind in the second inning 1-0 but quickly gained the lead tallying two runs in the third inning.  Nichols would regain the lead for good with a three-run fourth inning.  The Prairie Fire offense was held scoreless the rest of the game.  Nichols would go on to push across two more runs in the sixth inning and defeat Knox 7-2.      
 
Katy Coseglia tallied four hits, two runs and two RBIs.  Casey Hipp also added four hits, a run and three RBIs.
 
The Prairie Fire will take on Newbury College and Curry College on Thursday during the second day of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.