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Box Scores (Game 1 | Game 2)

WINSTON-SALEM – The UNC Pembroke softball team pounded out seven extra-base hits, including a trio of long balls, and 25 total base knocks to fuel 6-1 and 11-2 victories over host Winston-Salem State Sunday afternoon at Twin City Park.
 
The Braves (22-23) hit .484 with runners on base and .480 with runners in scoring position to improve to 5-1 in their last six outings and remain undefeated in 11 all-time meetings (10-0-1) with the Rams (7-25). UNCP pitching limited Winston-Salem State to just eight hits in 49 at-bats (.163 average), while the Brave offense racked up its most hits in a twinbill in over a month (March 1 at St. Andrews).
 
Game one was highlighted by pitching through the first three innings before the Black & Gold took Rams' starter Mercedes Hargett deep twice in the fourth to force a pitching change. Jamie Johnson opened the scoring with a two-run shot to left center, her fifth of the season, and Eden Brown cranked her first-collegiate home run two batters later to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.
 
Taylor Gerhart drove home one of her game-high three runs with a single in the fifth and added two more RBIs with a home run in the seventh that curled around the left-field foul pole. It was the junior's second long ball of the season.
 
Abbey Walters was a catalyst out of the two-hole, where she went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and career-high four stolen bases. The senior tossed a complete game in the circle to pick up her 11th win of the season and did not allow an earned run while fanning seven Rams.
 
The UNCP bats needed until the third inning to come alive in game two, but the guests rattled off 11 runs in the final five innings to cruise to the finish line. Rendi Wetherington put the Braves on the board with an RBI single in the third and was followed by run-scoring hits from Johnson and Haleigh Epperson to extend the lead to 4-0.
 
After Winston-Salem State grabbed a single run in its half of the third, the Black & Gold uses three-straight hits, a single, a double and a triple, followed by a sacrifice fly to put up three runs in the fifth. A Gerhart two-bagger plated two more in the sixth before Johnson and Gerhart each drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh.
 
Walters and Gerhart each tacked up three hits, while Wetherington, Johnson and Lexie Coxe all went for two hits in the win. The Braves swiped six bases in game two after stealing seven in the opener to go an unblemished 13-for-13 on the base paths.
 
Gerhart's seven RBIs on Sunday give her a Peach Belt Conference-leading 44 on the season, while Walters (.453) and Johnson (.421) sit 1-2 in the league's batting-average race and second (Johnson, 30) and fourth (Walters, 26) in stolen bases.
 
Freshman Maddie Armfield (2-4) grabbed the win in her fifth-collegiate start by surrendering just two runs on five hits. She needed just 85 pitches to hurl her second complete game of the season.
 
The red-hot Braves return to PBC play Saturday when Columbus State makes the long journey to Pembroke. UNCP will honor its lone senior, Walters, before a 1 p.m. first pitch at LRA Field. The visiting Cougars (24-16-1, 10-4 PBC) knocked off Armstrong State 5-1 and 10-7 Sunday, but are just 6-4-1 away from home this season. Columbus State leads the all-time series with UNCP 34-16, but the Black & Gold has won 11 of the last 18 meetings.