BABSON PARK, Fla. (March 11, 2020) – After a start of 17-5 through its stretch of nonconference games to start the 2020 season, the nationally-recognized Webber International University softball team split its first two games of Sun Conference play with a 3-0 victory in game one followed by a 5-4 loss in eight innings in game two.

Pitching the complete game shutout for Webber (18-6 overall, 1-1 The Sun Conference) in game one was Emma Maitland (8-2), who fanned eight batters and allowed only two hits with four walks across all seven innings. It was her eighth complete game and fourth shutout of her senior season so far.

Maitland pitched 1-2-3 innings in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings while stranding two runners on base in the fifth and seventh innings.

All of the Warriors' offense in game one came via the long ball as Mary-Margaret Maggard hit a two-run homer with one out to score Kaitlin Cockcroft in the bottom of the fifth before Krista Hoyt hit a solo shot with one out in the bottom of the sixth. It was the fifth home run of the season for Maggard and was the first for Hoyt.

In game two, Kelsea Friend stole home for the first run of the game in the bottom of the second before another one-out hit by Maggard, this time a double, scored Cockcroft to put Webber ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the third. Hoyt then led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left field, stole second base and then scored on a two-out double to center by Samantha Rolfe to make it 3-0.

Starting in the circle in game two was Raven White, who did not allow a single batter to reach base against her until the top of the fifth inning when a leadoff single for the Night Hawks led to two unearned runs.

Then after two more unearned runs by Thomas (11-8, 1-1) in the top of the sixth and an unearned run for Webber in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 4-4, the Night Hawks took advantage of the Texas tiebreaker rule by successfully putting down a sacrifice bunt followed by a sacrifice fly to take the lead in the top eighth. Webber, unfortunately, was unable to answer in the bottom of the eighth.

None of the Night Hawks' runs in game two were earned as in all, White finished with zero walks, six hits, four total runs and zero earned runs against her across the first 5.2 innings before Dariyen Moss did her best to keep the Warriors in it, allowing zero hits, one walk and one unearned run over the final 2.1 innings.

Webber's Head Softball Coach Kristy Burton said, "It was great to start with a win in our first conference game of the year. Emma threw a great game and kept us in every inning defensively. We were proud to see Mimi and Krista both square some balls up for us in some clutch situations. Raven was great for us in game two, but unfortunately we did not have the timely hits when we needed them to push runs across. We know every game is going to be a battle in The Sun Conference, and we are looking forward to another great battle at Coastal Georgia this weekend."

Next up for Webber softball will be its first road series of the conference season so far as the Warriors travel to Brunswick, Georgia, to battle No. 19-nationally ranked the College of Coastal Georgia starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 14. It will also be the Warriors' first two true road games of the season outside of tournament action.