NEWBERRY - After being shut out 2-0 in the opener of Tuesday's South Atlantic Conference doubleheader by the Wingate Bulldogs, the Newberry Wolves' softball team made the adjustments to rally for an 8-2 victory in the nightcap and split the doubleheader.

With the split, Newberry is now 24-15 overall and 8-4 in SAC play. The eight conference victories marks the most for the scarlet and gray since nine league wins in 2010. Newberry currently sits in third in the conference standings and has 10 regular season games remaining. Wingate is 18-14 overall and 7-5 in the league.

The Wolves return to action on Friday with a road trip to Greeneville, Tenn., where the scarlet and gray will take on the Tusculum Pioneers (14-16, 4-8 SAC) for a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Red Edmonds Field on the TC campus.

Game One: Wingate 2, Newberry 0
The Bulldogs scraped together a pair of runs on the speed of right fielder Morgan Hendrix and the Wolves did not adjust to off-speed pitches, as Wingate scored the win in the opener.

Maude McCourry (Centreville, Md.) was handed only her second loss of the season in the circle, allowing only one earned run on six hits. Hendrix singled to third base with one out in the first inning and scored all the way from first base on a single to the gap by Taylor Laskey.

The Bulldogs' insurance run came in the fifth inning, as Hendrix beat out another infield single. She stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw before scoring on Laskey's RBI groundout.

Gabby Bedard (Winder, Ga.) had two singles in the contest and Ashlen Ayres (Kennewick, Wash.) extended her hitting streak to 14 games with a bunt single, but the Wolves were unable to convert on any opportunities in the game.

The Wolves grounded out 11 times and hit into three inning-ending double plays. Freshman Ann Dee Priest (Douglasville, Ga.) was the only other Newberry player to grab a hit off of Wingate's Stacey Houser.

Game Two: Newberry 8, Wingate 2
The Wolves made the necessary adjustments in the second game to score eight runs on 11 singles, with a six-run fourth inning paving the way for a split.

Brittany Middleton (Lizella, Ga.) was solid in the circle, scattering seven hits and four walks with a strikeout and allowing only two runs, moving to 4-5 on the season with the complete game victory.

Wingate opened the scoring in the first inning again on a Laskey RBI single, but McCourry brought home the tying run in the second when a single followed by a fielding error by the centerfielder brought home Hailey Drawe (Oceanside, Calif.), who had singled earlier in the inning.

Jeri Loffler (Weeki Wachee, Fla.) led off the fourth with an infield single and was replaced on first with Priest's fielder's choice. A Drawe walk and a single through the left side by McCourry loaded the bases and kicked off the Newberry rally. An RBI walk by Casey Nellums (Duluth, Ga.) and a boop RBI single to the gap by Madison Tepfenhart (Clover, S.C.) scored a pair and finally got Houser out of the circle.

An RBI walk by Ayres, a Bedard sacrifice fly and a two-run single by Mallory Gerndt (Burke, Va.) pushed the lead out to 7-1 and the Wolves never looked back. Wingate's Alexis Burrell smoked a solo homer to left field to cut the lead to 7-2 in the fifth, but Newberry pushed the lead back to six runs on Loffler's RBI single in the sixth.

Loffler reached base on all four trips to the plate, going 3-for-3 with an RBI, while McCourry went 3-for-4.