PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke softball team scraped together a pair of runs in three different innings to support a dominant outing by Selena Ashley as the Braves picked up their first win of the season with a 6-0 shutout of Winston-Salem State on Saturday afternoon in the UNCP Invitational.

Newcomer Taylor Gerhart doubled, homered and drove in a pair of runs on a 2-for-3 outing for the Braves (1-2), while Brea Hartley tripled in a run to key a perfect 2-for-2 hitting line. Lexie Coxe hit a solo homer and scored twice on a 1-for-3 outing for the Black & Gold as well.

Winston-Salem State (0-4) got base hits from four different players, including Katrina Bartlett who also registered a stolen base.

Ashley (1-1) struck out seven and scattered four hits across her first complete game outing of the season to pick up the win for the Braves. Starter Chyna Riley (0-1) saddled the loss for the Rams after yielding four earned runs on six hits in 4-2/3 innings from the circle. She also struck out one.

Gerhart's two-run home run with two outs in the second gave the Braves a lead they would never relinquish, but the hosts padded their lead out to 4-0 via RBI knocks by Kaytee Wilson and Hartley in the fifth. Coxe led off the sixth with her first collegiate homer, and Whitney Jackson capped the scoring later in the frame with a sac fly to right field.

Ashley did not face more than four batters in any inning and registered two strikeouts in the seventh to seal the outcome.