SALISBURY, N.C. - The Newberry College softball team dropped the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader at Catawba, but responded with a great effort in the nightcap to earn the South Atlantic Conference split.

After Catawba took an 8-0 win in six innings in the opener, Newberry came back and won the second game by a 5-2 score. Newberry moves to 21-14 overall and 5-3 in SAC play, while Catawba is now 12-12 overall and 1-5 in the league.

The Wolves return home this weekend, hosting Lincoln Memorial at the Smith Road Complex on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Game One: Catawba 8, Newberry 0 (6 innings)
The Wolves were unable to get any offense going and five Catawba homeruns brought home the winning runs in an early end.

Catawba only managed five base hits in the contest, but they were all homeruns, including a grand slam with two outs in the first inning.

Newberry's first base hit came with two outs in the third inning, as the Wolves struck out nine times in the game and left runners stranded in scoring position in each inning they reached base.

Ashlen Ayres (Kennewick, Wash.), Gabby Bedard (Winder, Ga.) and Mallory Gerndt (Burke, Va.) collected a single each for the Wolves' hits. Pitcher Madison Burnett (Pickens, S.C.) was tagged with the loss to fall to 10-6, allowing two earned runs on three hits.

Game Two: Newberry 5, Catawba 2
A four-run sixth inning powered the Wolves to the win, thanks in large part to a bases-clearing three-run triple by Casey Nellums (Duluth, Ga.).

Newberry pounded out 10 hits in the contest, including a 3-for-4 game from Ayres, who led the game off with a double. Bedard also picked up a pair of hits.

The Wolves picked up their first lead of the day in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Gerndt following infield singles by Ayres and Bedard, but the Wolves would leave the bases loaded in that inning.

Catawba flipped the advantage in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homerun from Gina Gerone to take a 2-1 lead.

Maude McCourry (Centreville, Md.) led off the sixth with a single, Hailey Drawe (Oceanside, Calif.) was hit by a pitch and Madison Tepfenhart (Clover, S.C.) laid down a bunt single to load the bases. Nellums then roped a triple down the left field line to clear the bases and give Newberry the lead. Ayres' RBI groundout scored Nellums from third to push the lead to 5-2.

In the bottom of the inning, reliever Hannah Blakley (Manning, S.C.; 2-2) worked tough counts but loaded the bases with no outs. Brittany Middleton (Lizella, Ga.) came in and left all three Catawba runners stranded to keep the Wolves' lead intact. She had 2.0 innings of scoreless relief to pick up her second save of the season.