AUGUSTA, Ga.  – The GRU Augusta softball team opened their 2015 season on Tuesday afternoon with an 8-2 victory, before winning an 11-3 game in five innings to sweep the non-conference Newberry Wolves at Jaguar Field Tuesday afternoon.

The GRU (2-0) pitching staff combined for 18 strikeouts, with Paige Deschaine tossing nine in game one and Haley Birkle nine in game two.

Jaguar junior starting pitcher Paige Deschaine sat down Newberry (3-1) three-up, three-down in the first inning of work in game on to give her team a clean slate for their first at bat. The Jags got on Newberry starter Hannah Blakley early, when Molly Walton drew a hit by pitch and Mallory Ferguson singled into left to put runners on the corners. Head Coach Melissa Brocato put on the steal to second as Walton took home and came in safe on the hook slide for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Newberry's Cassie Harrell evened the game 1-1 in the top of the second on a deep homerun over the left-field wall off Deschaine. Deschaine (1-0) recovered and stranded two on base to escape the inning with a strikeout, but the Wolves added another in the third to take a 2-1 lead on a shallow fly ball to right field.

Deschaine went the distance on the mound and recorded nine strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work, where she surrendered two runs on seven hits.

The Jags took a 5-2 swing in the third off of Brooke Stephen's grand-slam homerun to center field. Now pitching with the lead, Deschaine left the bases loaded again when she got a fly-ball out to Molly Walton in centerfield.

The Wolves took out Blakley on the mound and inserted Maude McCourry. After back-to-back Jaguar singles from Hannah Wilson and Walton, Mallory Ferguson doubled down the left-field line for a 7-2 advantage. GRU added one in the sixth on two hits and cruised to an 8-2 victory.

Blakley (1-0) went 3.0 innings and gave up five hits for five runs, four earned in the loss.

In game two, GRU left-hander Haley Birkle took the mound and struck out the side in the first inning. Birkle (1-0) pitched 5.0 innings and gave up three runs on six hits, while striking out nine.

GRU took an early advantage on the Wolves again when a first-base error allowed GRU to score Walton, who singled in her first at bat of game two. The lead didn't last long as Newberry put up three runs off three hits and two GRU errors in the second inning.

Hannah Wilson tied the game in the bottom of the second with a bases-loaded single into left field. An opposite-field ground ball from Walton in the next at bat gave GRU the go-ahead run. Things got worse for Newberry when an infield error scored Wilson from third, before three-straight singles gave the Jags a 7-3 lead in the second inning.

GRU added four in the third and took an 11-3 victory to run-rule the Wolves in the fifth inning. Newberry starter Brittany Middleton (0-2) went 2.0 innings and gave up nine hits for 10 runs.

Walton went 5-6 with three RBI on the day, Brianna Dickens was 4-6, and Mallory Ferguson was 4-7 with two RBI. Lindsey Stokes and Hannah Wilson each had three hits apiece.

GRU hosts Anderson for another non-conference doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1:00 p.m.

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