GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - A three-run homer by Hailey Drawe (Oceanside, Calif.) in the second game of Friday's South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader pushed the Newberry Wolves to a win, earning a split with the Tusculum Pioneers at Red Edmonds Field.

Newberry is now 25-16 overall and 9-5 in SAC action, while Tusculum is 15-17 overall and 5-9 in the league. The win clinches a winning regular season for Newberry for the first time since the 2010 season.

The Wolves are back in action on Wednesday, April 8, hosting the Royals of Queens University for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

Game One: Tusculum 5, Newberry 1
Two innings by the Pioneers proved to be the difference, as Newberry could not capitalize on run-scoring chances in the day’s first game.

With two outs in the second inning and runners on the corners, the Pioneers put together a single and a triple to score three runs.

Mallory Gerndt (Burke, Va.) led off the fourth with a double and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Ann Dee Priest (Douglasville, Ga.), cutting the lead to 3-1.

Newberry had runners on the corners with one out in the fifth, but a hard liner to left was unable to score the runner and a misread on a pitch in the dirt picked off the runner on first to end the rally.

Tusculum scored two more runs in the sixth to make a comeback attempt tougher, and the Wolves stranded a runner in scoring position to end the game after Priest led off with an infield single.

Maude McCourry (Centreville, Md.) took the loss in the circle, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out three. Her record now stands at 8-3 on the year.

Newberry only struck out three times, but grounded out 11 times. Gerndt, Priest, McCourry, Ashlen Ayres (Kennewick, Wash.) and Cassie Harrell (Williamston, N.C.) each collected hits for the scarlet and gray. Gabby Bedard (Winder, Ga.) had a streak of 26 game successfully reaching base snapped.

Game Two: Newberry 6, Tusculum 2
A four-run sixth inning punctuated by Drawe's first homer of the season allowed the Wolves to pull away late and pick up the win in the day's second contest.

Newberry opened the game with an Ayres double, and a pair of groundouts allowed the senior centerfielder to come around and score. Priest led off the second inning with a double as well, and a sacrifice bunt followed by a sacrifice fly from McCourry pushed the lead to 2-0.

Tusculum fought back to tie the game, with a run scoring on two doubles in the second inning and a bases loaded single plating a run in the third. Bedard gunned down the go-ahead run at the plate, ending the inning and preventing Tusculum from taking the lead.

After both teams failed to scratch the board in the fourth or fifth inning, Newberry's big sixth inning got off to a start with Bedard leading the frame off with a single. A hit batsman and a wild pitch put runners at second and third with one out. Priest smoked an RBI single up the middle to give the Wolves a one-run lead, followed by Drawe blasting a three-run shot to left-center to push the Wolves' advantage to four runs at 6-2.

The Newberry defense turned a double play to get out of a jam with no damage in the bottom of the sixth and Brittany Middleton (Lizella, Ga.) sat the Pioneers down in order in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the win.

Middleton moved to 5-5 on the season with the complete game victory, allowing two runs on five hits and four walks, striking out six,

Priest was 2-for-3 in the game with two runs scored, while Drawe's three RBIs led the team. Four of the Wolves' seven hits in the game went for extra bases.