NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Newberry College softball team swept a doubleheader from visiting Anderson University Friday afternoon. The Lady Indians went for 29 hits and 26 runs in the twinbill, winning by scores of 13-5 (5 innings) and 13-6 to improve to 4-5-1 overall. Anderson drops to 3-5.

Game One: Newberry 13, Anderson 5 (5 innings)
After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning and a half, the Lady Indians turned things around by scoring twice in the bottom of the second and batted through the order in the third and fourth innings.

Sophomore Kat Hammond (Irmo, S.C.) started things off in the second with a single, followed by a bunt single from Jenny Raines (Blythewood, S.C.). After a Tiffany Pigage (Lexington, S.C.) sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Hammond scored on an Anderson error with Jessica Reid (Walhalla, S.C.) reaching first base. Another sacrifice bunt by Amy Jarrell (Dover, Del.) plated Raines.

The third inning saw 10 Lady Indians come to the plate, while five scored to give Newberry the lead for good. Ginna Dean (Willow Springs, N.C.), Sara Powell (Ocean Springs, Del.), Hammond, Raines and Reid all scored in the third, with Courtney Lindler (Irmo, S.C.) picking up two of her game-high four RBIs on a single, giving Newberry a 7-3 advantage after three frames.

Anderson picked up two runs in the top of the fourth thanks to doubles from Meredith Knox and Kayla Thrasher, but Hammond (2) answered with a two-run homerun to right-centerfield in the bottom of the inning. Allison Porter (Chapin, S.C.) and Reid would later scored on a Lindler single.

Newberry ended the game early with the mercy rule thanks to a Pigage two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to give the Lady Indians the eight-run win.

Stephanie Monette (2-2, Conway, S.C.) gave up five runs - two earned - on eight hits, sriking out one and issuing two walks in five innings to pick up the win. Ashley Rogers collected the loss for Anderson.

Game Two: Newberry 13, Anderson 6
Newberry exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back to complete the sweep and run its winning streak to three games.

However, the result wasn't always obvious, as the Lady Trojans led, 5-0, after an inning and a half. Ellen Steele hit doubles in the first and second innings to collect three quick RBIs.

Newberry sent 13 batters up in the bottom of the second, with seven different players earning RBIs in the frame. Raines, McKenzie Phillips (Wallace, N.C.) and Reid loaded the bases with three consecutive singles to open the inning, with Raines scoring on a Jarrell walk, while Lindler ran out an infield single to drive in Phillips. A bunt single by Powell drove in Reid, and a Kirby double to left-center brought Jarrell and Lindler home. A Hammond single plated Powell with a throwing error and a Phillips sacrifice fly scoring Kirby and Hammond. Jarrell popped up to shortstop to put an end to the inning, with Newberry ahead 8-5.

Neither side scored in the third inning, but Anderson narrowed the deficit on a Thrasher double in the top of the fourth. But the Lady Indians responded with three runs to put the game out of reach.

Kirby picked up the win from the circle to move to 2-2 on the season, allowing six runs - three earned - on nine hits in seven innings. Kirby was also one of four batters to collect two RBIs in the game along with Hammond, Raines and Jarrell.

Katie Van Gieson gave up 11 runs on 11 hits in four innings to pick up the loss.

Head coach Joe Elston said he was extremely pleased with his team's performance at the plate.

"I think we're swinging the bats all the way down the lineup, the bottom half of the order is hitting well, and the substitutes hit well," Elston said. "We talked about having timely hits with runners in scoring position, and we did that extremely well today."

"I'm tremendously pleased we were able to run-rule Anderson, since they beat LMU twice earlier this season. They're a good hitting team, and we didn't fold when we spotted them runs," Elston added.

"We worked on getting our confidence up and getting our cuts in. When we swing aggressively and play aggressively, things like this will come around. I hope it carries all the way through the weekend and we keep building momentum as we approach conference play."

The Lady Indians continue a weekend homestand on Saturday, as Mount Olive College pays a visit for a doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

Game One: Newberry 13, Anderson 5 (5)
  Score by Innings               R  H  E
  --------------------------------------
  Anderson University. 210 20 -  5  8  4
  Newberry College.... 025 42 - 13 14  2
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Game Two: Newberry 13, Anderson 6
  Score by Innings                  R  H  E
  -----------------------------------------
  Anderson University. 140 100 0 -  6  9  2
  Newberry College.... 080 311 X - 13 15  3
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