PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke softball team busted out a combined 28 hits on the day - including 10 doubles and a home run – and closed out the UNCP Invitational with wins over both Kutztown, 9-4, and Shippensburg, 8-4, on Sunday.
 
Freshman Cameron Davis hit her first collegiate home run and added two doubles and a quartet of RBI to highlight a 4-for-7 day at the plate for the Braves (2-2). Junior Shelby Thomas recorded two doubles for UNCP in the win over Shippensburg in Sunday's nightcap.
 
Jordan Hall (1-0) went the distance against Kutztown, scattering eight hits and striking out four. Malerie Leviner (1-1) earned the win against Shippensburg, striking out seven and allowing three hits in six innings of work. Leviner did not allow a hit through her first five innings of work against the Raiders.
 
The Black & Gold tacked on runs in the first inning in both games, including a three-run inning against Kutztown. Mary Sells got that inning going by reaching on a fielder's choice, while a single to right field from Alex Watkins scored Sells to put the hosts on the board. Cameron Davis followed with a RBI double to score Watkins, and Jordan Adcox sent Davis home with a single through the right side. The hosts tacked up four more runs in the sixth, highlighted by Taylor Brummitt's double into centerfield that scored Mary Sells.
 
Shippensburg put up four runs in the final two innings, but that did little to cut into a 7-0 advantage that the Braves had already built. Kutztown added a lone run in each of the last three innings, but UNC Pembroke plated four insurance runs in the home half of the sixth to seal the outcome.
 
The Braves will be back in action on Tuesday when they take on Fayetteville State (0-0) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at the UNCP Softball Field. Admission to all 2019 UNCP Softball home games is free.