MELBOURNE, Fla. (Softball) - Florida Tech (16-17) shot fire on the Sailfish in both matches, as FIT missed the sweep against Palm Beach Atlantic by a whisker on Saturday's afternoon at Nancy Bottge Field.

The Panthers bats showed an imposing firepower, as Hailey Leonard and Alexus Smith led the FIT lineup and collected two home runs apiece. The "corners" combined currently hold an imposing slugging percentage of 1.157 respectively, .632 for Smith and .525 for Leonard. The power-hitters are also recording a total of 50 RBI in the 2017 season, 25 individually.

In the circle, Amanda Khan (5-4) earned her fifth win of the season, while Senior Rachel Pence (2 saves) capped Game 2 relieving McKenzie Krutsinger, and closed the doors of a possible comeback for PBA.

In Game 1, the Sailfish got on the scoreboard first with a double in the top of the second. Palm Beach repeated itself in the third, and was now leading, 2-0. The Panthers pride shot back in the bottom of the fourth, as Leonard blasted a solo home run to the deep left field. Leonard's bomb closed the gap for FIT, 2-1.

Still hungry for runs, Florida Tech clawed two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. With a runner at second, Smith banged a two RBI home run behind the left field fence, as the Panthers overlapped the Sailfish, 3-2.

Despite tenacious offensive and defensive endeavors, PBA managed to pick up two more runs in their last at bats, and eventually routed FIT, 4-3.

Fired up by the earlier loss, the Panthers took home Game 2 in an overpowering fashion. Palm Beach Atlantic started the final game by scoring one run in the top of the first. After two scoreless innings, the Panthers got on the board with a sac-fly by catcher Makayla Palmer. With today's RBI, the junior increased her number of runners-batted-in to an impressive 21.

One inning later, the Crimson and Gray raced across four runs to bump its margin, 5-2. With Audrey Gangloff standing at third and Kaitlin Buchholz at second, Smith's bat struck again, bursting a three-run dinger to center field.

The Sailfish offense tried to rally, but the Crimson and Gray defense wiped out the PBA attempts, as Florida Tech grabbed the dub, 5-3.

The Panthers will be traveling to Winter Park on Mar. 24, to take over SSC rival Rollins College. Start time is set for 6 p.m. ET. Fans can access live coverage of the event at FloridaTechSports.com/live!