PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke softball team scored five runs with two outs in the fifth inning and took advantage of Catawba's late errors to clinch the 9-1 victory in five innings over the Indians on Saturday afternoon at LRA Field in game one of the twinbill.

The victory gave the Braves (8-2) their eighth-straight victory and marks the best start for the squad since the 2005 season, while the loss gave Catawba (3-2) its second-consecutive defeat.

Senior Brea Hartley went 2-for-2 with three RBI, while junior Whitney Jackson and freshman Taylor Gerhart collected two hits with Gerhart adding a pair of RBI. Both Kaytee Wilson and Jamie Johnson crossed home plate twice as five different players each touched home plate.

Catawba's Carolin Turner and Carley Tysinger were the only two Indians to notch a hit as Turner homered in the first at-bat of the game for the team's only score.

Senior Selena Ashley (5-1) posted her fifth-straight victory in the middle as she drilled four strikeouts in 19 batters faces. The Walkertown native pitched to just three batters in each of the last two innings to deny any chance of a scoring.

Tysinger (2-1), who was named to the NFCA Division II National Player of the Year Watch List prior to the start of the season, suffered the loss as she allowed nine runs (three earned) on nine hits with seven strikeouts.

Wilson reached in the first inning on a base hit and was sent home on Hartley's double to left center field to tie up the score in the bottom of the first. The Braves put two runs up in the second and an additional score in the third to hold the three-run lead.

UNCP batted around the line up in the bottom of the fourth as Jackson, Wilson, Johnson, Hartley, Gerhart and Lexie Coxe scored to give UNCP the eight run advantage and end the game in five innings.

Following the homer in the first, the Indians had only three other batters reached base.