Simmons Softball scored twice in the top of the ninth inning to hand host MIT an 8-6 defeat in non-conference softball action at Briggs Field on Tuesday. The Engineers led for most of the afternoon but were unable to hold on to a 5-2 advantage, falling to 0-1 for the 2011 campaign. The Sharks boosted their overall record to 3-7 with the win.

With the score tied after seven innings, the teams went to extras where each squad would plate a run in the eighth to extend the game. In the top of the ninth, freshman Christina Mulcahy (Cambridge, Mass.) put the Sharks on top with a run-scoring double and came home on a base hit by senior Emily Colligan (Leominster, Mass.).

The Engineers got on the board first in the bottom of the second, with Michelle Dion's single plating Keri Dixon from second. The Sharks tied things up in the third with an unearned tally, as senior Steph Murray (Groveland, Mass.) reached on an error and was eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Emily Nalband (Litchfield, Conn.)

Tech responded in the bottom half of the inning. Jessica Oleinik hit an RBI triple and came home on Bensey Schnip's single. Dixon would score her second run of the game later in the inning to put MIT ahead, 4-1. Schnip added another RBI in the fourth with a single to score Katie Harrington and give the Engineers a 5-2 lead.

Simmons would score a pair of unearned runs in the fifth and bring across another in the sixth to send the game into extra innings.

Lacobucci was the hard-luck loser, as just two of her eight runs allowed were earned. The junior hurler struck out six batters and stranded 10 Simmons baserunners. Keri Dixon was two-for-five, crossing the plate twice while Oleinik scored once and drove in a pair. Bensey Schnip had three hits for Tech and knocked in a pair of runs while Jessica Iacobucci went the distance in her season debut.

The Sharks will be off until next Saturday, March 26 when host St. Joseph's (Conn.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader. MIT will open conference play with a home doubleheader tomorrow against WPI. Weather permitting, the first game will begin at 2:30 p.m.