TUCSON, AZ - The Christopher Newport softball team prevailed Saturday over Texas Lutheran in a battle of the two top-ranked programs in the country. Keith Parr's Captains, ranked second, downed the top-ranked and undefeated Bulldogs, 10-2, in a game shortened to five innings due to the eight-run rule. Texas Lutheran is the defending National Champion and is now 13-1 on the season.

The battle was the first of two on a sunny and breezy Saturday at the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's (NFCA) Leadoff Classic. The Captains suffered their first defeat of the year in their second game on Saturday, falling to fifth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan by a 7-1 score.

The Captains opened the day Saturday at Lincoln Park Field by using the long ball and great pitching to knock off Texas Lutheran. Christopher Newport jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and added five runs in the fourth frame before closing out the action with a three-run fifth inning. Senior Aubrey Bates ran her record to 5-0 to start the season by throwing all five innings for the Captains, allowing just two runs in the fifth while scattering eight hits and stranding eight runners on base.

Junior Maddie Hool opened the scoring with a solo home run to lead off the game, her first of the season. Senior Tara Deck and junior Patty Maye Ohanian later clubbed two-run blasts in the fourth inning. For Deck, it was her second of the year and Ohanian's was her team-leading fifth of the season.

Sophomore Bailey Roberts doubled home a run in the first inning and sophomore Caitlin Abernethy contributed an RBI single in the fourth. All three runs to end the game in the fifth inning were unearned, as the Captains took advantage of a Bulldog error and also scored a run on a wild pitch. 

Fifth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan jumped to a 7-0 lead in the nightcap with all of the runs coming in the first three innings, and handed the Captains their first defeat of the season, 7-1. Christopher Newport managed to score just one fourth inning run on an RBI single by sophomore Kaitlyn Hasty. Freshman starter Gracie Vallejos took the loss to fall to 3-1, but only one of the seven runs she gave up was earned as the Captains were victimized by four errors in the game.

Christopher Newport is now 12-1 and will play two more games in Tucson on Sunday to wrap up the classic. The Captains will play the College of Saint Benedict and Berry College in the final two games of the Arizona trip.