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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The UNC Pembroke softball team scored at least one run in five of the six innings including a five-run inning in the sixth to put the Lady Braves ahead by 11 runs and take the 14-3 win over No. 24 Wingate on Saturday afternoon at the Mid-South Classic.
The victory was the second-straight for UNCP (10-6) and moved the series with nationally-ranked Wingate (13-5) to 1-2, while the Bulldogs dropped their third contest in the last four games.
Senior Shelby Holland went 3-for-3 with a team-high four runs and two RBI, while junior Megan Hillard hit a three-run homer to help tally five RBI, along with two hits and a pair of runs. The Lady Braves notched 16 hits throughout the six innings as Caitlin Steel registered three, Brea Hartley and Kaytee Wilson each added two and Whitney Jackson, as well as Karlee Wilson posted one hit.
Wingate was held to just five hits from five different players as Alexis Burrell logged two RBI and scored one run.
Senior Natalie Klemann (5-2) grabbed her second-consecutive win for UNCP after allowed three earned runs on five hits with a season-high five strikeouts in her six-inning complete game. The Apex native faced only three batters in the first, third and sixth inning, and held the Bulldogs scoreless until the fourth.
Taylor Bates (4-4) opened up the game for the Bulldogs and went one inning, before being relieved by Stacey Houser for two innings and Amy Wingfield for an inning. Bates reentered for the final two innings but still earned the loss after allowing eight runs (five earned) on seven hits.
The Lady Braves opened up the game with three runs in the first inning on two walks, a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly in the first before adding an additional run in the second and third innings to hold the 5-0 lead. Hillard gave UNCP a three-run homer to collected three of the four runs scored in the fourth for a 9-0 advantage, before Wingate used a two-run homerun by Burrell to put two runs on the board and cut UNCP's lead to seven runs.
Wingate used a double and single in the fifth to post its last score, while UNCP claimed its biggest inning in the top of the sixth to score Steel, Holland, Taylor Cloninger, Hillard and Hartley and hold the 11-run lead. Klemann and the UNCP defense faced only three batters in the bottom of the sixth for the victory.