BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - The Gardner-Webb softball put two of its best performances of the season back to back on Saturday, defeating New Haven 11-1 and Lafayette 11-3 at Spring in The Springs

Game One - Gardner-Webb 11, New Haven 1 // 5 Innings
Behind three runs in the first and six runs in the second, Gardner-Webb jumped all over New Haven in a Game One win on Saturday

The Runnin' Bulldogs started quick, when senior first baseman Maggie Knight crushed a home run to right center field wall to give GWU a 3-0 lead

Gardner-Webb did damage in the third without even putting the ball in play. First, senior right fielder Jailyn Tineo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it a 4-0 game, then a wild pitch allowed sophomore second baseman Reese Collier to make it 5-0

In the fourth, Tineo, Knight, and Collier were all at the center again. After sophomore third baseman Caitlin Colley punched a hit through the left side to score a run, Collier cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to left center, Knight grounded to short but did enough for Collier to score, and Tineo put a ball in play to left that eventually, after a comedy of errors, allowed senior pitcher Alli Stidham to score. After all that, Gardner-Webb was up 11-0

New Haven got a run back in the fifth after a wild pitch, but that was all as the Runnin' Bulldogs won 11-1 in five innings

Game Two - Gardner-Webb 11, Lafayette 3 // 5 Innings
Much like the first game, Gardner-Webb swung a hot bat in Game Two, scoring three in the second and five more in the fourth in an 11-3 win over Lafayette

After Lafayette scored in the first senior catcher Taylor Dreher started the GWU scoring with a bang, finding the gap in right for an RBI triple that scored two runs, 2-1. Sophomore center fielder Lauren Spainhower scored Dreher on a sac fly moments later to increase that lead to 3-1

Up 5-3 in the fourth, GWU turned the contest on its head. Spainhower plated Dreher again, this time with an RBI double down the left field line to make it 6-3. Senior shortstop Annicka McLaughlin put an RBI single on the board to score Spainhower and make it 7-3 before Stidham drove her in for an 8-3 advantage. After a Knight single scored Stidham and Collier for a 10-3 lead, GWU was one swing away from ending the contest early

Sophomore first baseman Madden McMahan-Waters stepped up in the fifth with a runner on, then roped a triple to right center, allowing Spainhower to score and hand Gardner-Webb an 11-3 win

UP NEXT
GWU closes out Spring in The Springs on Sunday at 11:30 am against New Haven