NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport closed out the opening weekend of the 2019 Capital Athletic Conference softball tournament Sunday with a 9-1 triumph over Frostburg State. The victory on a sunny and pleasant day at Captains Park propels CNU to the championship series of the six-team tourney next Friday and Saturday.

Keith Parr's team again came out swinging, crushing three more home runs and plating nine runs on ten hits in the victory, which came in six innings due to the eight-run rule. CNU is now 31-6 on the year and ranked ninth in the country. 

Freshman Kaitlyn Hasty led the barrage, smacking two home runs to give her 17 for the season. She has now tied Jessie Atkinson's all-time school record for home runs in a season, set in 2011. Junior Grace Wild also cleared the fence for the Captains, registering her fourth of the year.

Sophomore Emily Weatherholtz and junior Aubrey Bates combined to allow just one run on three hits to the Bobcats. Weatherholtz started and threw the first four innings, allowing just a solo home run to FSU's Amber Keene. She improved her record to 12-1 on the season. Bates followed by throwing scoreless softball over the last two innings.

CNU, the visiting team in the game, jumped to a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Hasty went deep for the first time, a solo shot, followed by a three-run double off the bat of Wild.  After Keene hit her solo blast in the bottom of the second to make it 4-1, the Captains went back to work with two more runs in the third and fourth frames. Hasty cracked her second dinger of the day, a two-run shot, in the third and Wild left the park with a two-run blast in the fourth. Sophomore Patty Maye Ohanian pushed the lead to eight with an RBI double scoring Wild in the sixth to account for the 9-1 final tally.

Wild, who led the CAC in batting average this season, was two-for-three with five runs driven in. Hasty, who topped the conference in home runs and RBIs, was two-for-three with her two long balls and three runs batted in. The Captains have now clubbed 53 home runs this year, a new school mark for homers in a season. CNU matched the all-time mark with four in Saturday victories over Frostburg State and Salisbury. FSU's season came to a close Sunday with a 17-20 overall record.

CNU's opponent and location for the best-of-three championship series will not be determined until Monday, when Mary Washington, York, and Southern Virginia return to play in the other opening pod in Fredericksburg. Each team there is 1-1, and if the top-seeded Eagles of Mary Washington win, they would host the Captains for the title series. If either York (fourth seed) or Southern Virginia (sixth seed) advance, they would travel to second-seeded CNU for the best-of-three series Friday and Saturday.

Christopher Newport is now 19-2 this season at Captains Park. The Captains have recorded 30 or more victories for the 13th consecutive season, and are looking to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th straight year as well. CNU has hit a total of 53 home runs, a new single season program record, and 11 different Captains have hit homers led by Hasty's 17.