NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University improved its softball record to 9-3 Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of Averett University at Captains Park. Keith Parr's squad won the opener with a run in the bottom of the seventh, 5-4, and then took the nightcap by a 5-2 margin on a sunny and mild March afternoon.

As the temperature soared into the upper 60's, the Captains heated up as well by opening a 4-1 lead in the first game with single runs in the first and third innings and two in the fourth. The Cougars would come from behind to tie the game at 4-4, thanks to a three-run home run off the bat of Kaitlyn Aherron in the top of the fifth.

Christopher Newport then broke the deadlock and won the game in the bottom of the seventh when senior Maddie Hool delivered a two-out single scoring junior Sarah Proctor with the walk-off run. Proctor had singled and stolen second base earlier in the inning.

Junior Caitlin Abernethy had two singles and a double in the opener, and Proctor and Hool each recorded two singles. Senior Emily Weatherholtz went the distance in the circle for the victory, and improved to 4-0 on the season. Weatherholtz allowed four runs on just five hits and struck out four in seven innings of work.

In the nightcap, sophomore Gracie Vallejos threw another gem, a complete-game effort to run her record to 5-1 as the Captains prevailed over the Cougars, 5-2. Vallejos struck out 11 and walked just two while yielding just one earned run. She has now struck out 48 batters in 42 innings this season, and lowered her earned run average to 1.50. Vallejos was named the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

Christopher Newport plated single runs in the second, fifth, and sixth innings and scored two in the fourth frame. Junior Kaitlyn Hasty, the Player of the Week in the conference, smacked her third home run of the season...a solo shot in the fifth. Hasty also drove home the final run in the sixth when she was hit by a pitch with the bases full.

Abernethy was two-for-three in game two with an RBI single, and finished the doubleheader five-for-seven. She upped her team-high batting average to .459 with her five-hit day. Averett fell to 0-6 with the defeats.

The Captains will return to the field on Wednesday to host North Carolina Wesleyan (3-1) in a twin bill. Game one will begin at 2:30 p.m.

View Christopher Newport's new spectator policy HERE.