FRANKLIN, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology kept its hopes for a bid to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament alive with an 8-1 and 16-15 softball sweep at Franklin College on Monday.

The Engineers pounded out 13 hits and relied on a strong pitching performance by freshman Jordan Goslee (St. Joseph, Mich.) to earn the opening game win.

Freshman Darcie Thomas (Brighton, Mich.) smashed a home run among three hits with four RBIs and one scored to lead the Rose-Hulman offense.

Junior Ashley Montgomery (Plainfield) added a triple, a single, one run and one RBI, while freshman Brittany Bernthold (Fisherville, Ky./Eastern) was 2-3 with two runs scored.

Goslee offered support both in the circle and at the plate in game one.  She finished 2-4 with two singles, one run and one RBI at the plate, and scattered four hits with four strikeouts to earn the pitching victory.

Ashley Montgomery scored four times in game two and had a pair of hits in the opener.

The nightcap featured a combination of timely hitting and mistakes in the field that resulted in a dramatic Rose-Hulman victory. 

Franklin scored three times in the sixth and seventh to tie the score at 13-13 and force extra innings, but the Engineers scored three times in the eighth to earn the key win.

Junior Katie Frey (Cedar Grove/Franklin County) smashed three singles, drove home three runs and added scored twice to pace Rose-Hulman's 16-hit attack.

Goslee entered in relief to pick up the pitching win and improve to 10-8 on the season.  At the plate, she added two hits and four RBIs.

Other key contributors to the Rose-Hulman offense included Montgomery with four runs scored and a double; senior Amy Viles (Mooresville) with two singles and three runs scored; junior Katie Yiznitsky (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield) with three RBIs and a double; freshman Kristin Greer (Batavia, Ohio) with two singles; and Thomas with three hits, two runs scored and one RBI.

Rose-Hulman improved to 12-20 overall and 7-7 in HCAC play, while Franklin dropped to 1-21 and 0-10 in league games.  The Engineers need to sweep Mount St. Joseph on Saturday and receive losses from Bluffton or a combination of losses from Transylvania and Manchester to qualify for the four-team league tournament on May 4-5.