SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Behind a complete game from junior Abbey Walters in her first start of the season, the UNC Pembroke softball team toppled No. 7 Catawba 6-2 Friday night at the Mid-South Classic in northwest South Carolina. 

The Braves improve to 6-5-1 with the win, moving over the .500 mark for the first time since their 1-0 start, while Catawba suffers their first setback of the season, dropping to 10-1 overall. 

Walters seized her first opportunity to start in the circle for UNCP, tossing all seven innings on 96 pitches, while surrendering just two runs and four hits. After giving up a two-out single in the first, Walters set the next 13 Indians down, retiring the side 1-2-3 in innings two through five. She notched her first win in a Braves uniform and dropped her season ERA to a team-best 2.33.

The Black & Gold jumped on Catawba early, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on one hit, one walk and two costly Indian errors. In the third, UNCP once again took advantage off a Catawba miscue, tacking on a run to stretch the advantage to 3-0. 

The Braves' lead was extended to 4-0 in the fifth when Taylor Gerhart plated Whitney Jackson on a two-out rope to right center. Jackson led off the inning with a single up the middle and was sacrificed to second by Jamie Johnson.

Catawba's first tally came in the sixth on a one-out single to right. Walters retired the next two batters to limit the damage and send UNCP to bat with a 4-1 lead.

After two walks and a single loaded the bases for the Braves in the sixth, Johnson ripped a clutch two-out single up the middle to plate Haleigh Epperson and Savannah Melvin, moving the Black & Gold advantage to 6-1.

The Indians scratched one run across in the seventh on a two-out knock, but Walters induced a game-ending groundout on a 1-2 pitch to the next batter, sealing the upset victory for the Braves.

Jackson and Johnson were catalysts at the top of the order for UNCP, combining for four of the team's seven hits. Jackson was a perfect 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored, while Johnson was 2-for-3 in the two-hole, driving in two runs and scoring two herself. Johnson also stole a base, her team-leading ninth of the year.

Gerhart, Epperson and Morgan Davis all notched one hit apiece and Gerhart drove in a pair.

The Braves will wrap up their Mid-South classic appearance Saturday with games at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. UNCP will do battle with Lincoln Memorial in the day's first game before a tilt with Southern Indiana. The Black & Gold and Lincoln Memorial have met just once, a 2007 Railsplitters' victory. Saturday will be the first ever meeting between UNCP and Southern Indiana. Live stats for both games can be found at uncpbraves.com.