SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Newberry College softball team opened the Mid-South Tournament Classic with an 8-0 win over Fairmont State on Friday evening. Newberry jumped on the Falcons in the third and fourth innings to plate eight runs and win by the mercy rule.

Newberry improved to 8-3 on the year while Fairmont State fell to 2-5.

Amanda Huckestein (Port Charlotte, Fla.) earned the win for Newberry after pitching five hitless innings and improved to 4-1 on the year. Huckestein struck out nine and only allowed five Falcons to reach base.

Jessica Reid (Walhalla, S.C.) led Newberry with two hits while Felicia Taylor (Venice, Fla.), Huckestein, Sara Powell (Ocean View, Del.), Jessie Teague (Charlotte, N.C.) and Angela Cataldo (Sumter, S.C.) all added RBIs.

Chelsea Cobb (Dunbar, W. Va.) was tagged with the loss in the game after giving up six hits in 3.1 innings pitched. Cobb fell to 1-3 on the year.

Fairmont put runners on in the second after Brittany Tallhammer (Parkersburg, W. Va.) was hit by a pitch and Kayla Gray (Benwood, W. Va.) reached by virtue of a walk. Three Huckestein strikeouts quickly bailed Newberry out of the jam though.

The scarlet and gray threatened in their half of the second as well after Powell led the inning off with a bloop-single that appeared to land directly on the leftfield foul line. Teague moved Powell up to second with a sacrifice bunt and Powell moved to third on a wild pitch with one out. The following Newberry hitters fouled out and grounded out to the third baseman and no damage was done.

Huckestein put the Falcons down in order in the third with a looking strikeout and a pair of swinging strikeouts. Courtney Flach (Tampa, Fla.) led Newberry off in the bottom of the third with a single through the right side followed by Aissa Gatewood (North Charleston, S.C.) and Reid both reaching on perfected bunt singles to load the bases with no outs. Huckestein grounded to second base but the speedy Flach beat the throw home for Newberry's first run. A Falcon throwing error in the next at bat moved two more runs across and a Cataldo single capped of Newberry's four-run third inning.

Gatewood reached in the fourth when a throwing error pulled the first baseman off the bag. Reid then lined one hard back up the middle which bounced off the Falcons' pitcher and over to the first base side fence. Gatewood went all the way to third and Reid advanced to second when the Falcons attempted to throw out Gatewood. Taylor then singled through the right side to score Gatewood and Reid scored on a wild pitch. Taylor later came around to score on another wild pitch to put Newberry up 8-0.

The scarlet and gray kept the Falcons off the board again in the fifth to induce the mercy rule and solidify the win.

Newberry continues competition in the Mid-South Classic with three games at Saturday. Newberry faces Charleston (W. Va.) at 2 p.m., Belmont Abbey at 4 p.m. and North Greenville at 6 p.m.