NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The second-ranked Christopher Newport University softball team recorded a pair of victories Wednesday over Bridgewater College at Captains Park. CNU won the opener by a 4-2 score, and then took the nightcap, 11-3, in a game shortened to six innings due to the eight-run mercy rule. The Captains are now 15-3 and have won eight straight games. The Eagles of BC fell to 14-12 with the two defeats on a hot and sunny day on the CNU campus.

Sophomore pitcher Kate Alger upped her record to 8-1 on the season by earning the victory in the opener, and then saved her second game of the year in game two. In all, Alger threw 9.1 innings of the twin bill, allowing just two runs on four hits with 14 strikeouts and just two walks. Alger has now recorded 99 strikeouts this season in 67.1 innings in the circle.

Sophomore Olivia Kim started the nightcap, and picked up the win in her first decision of the season. She pitched the first 3.2 innings and yielded just three unearned runs before Alger came in and went the rest of the way.

Wednesday's first game saw the Captains and Eagles each plate two runs in the first inning, but Alger then fell into a groove that silenced the BC bats the rest of the game. Alger retired 12 consecutive Bridgewater batters spanning from the second to sixth innings, while the Captains added single runs in the fourth and sixth frames to record the 4-2 triumph.

Christopher Newport managed just four hits in the opening game off Bridgewater's Samantha Martin, who saw her record fall to 2-2. Junior Brooke Greaver had two of the four, and got the scoring started with an RBI double in the first, bringing home sophomore Brenna Morefield with the first CNU run of the day. Junior Katie Currin brought Greaver home with a run-scoring single in the opening frame to tie the game at 2-2.

CNU's single runs came on a fourth-inning double from senior Abby Rochette, scoring sophomore Sammy Drew with what proved to be the winning run to give the Captains a 3-2 edge. The final run came home in the sixth inning when a pinch-runner, junior Jules Donnelly, charged home on a steal attempt to account for the 4-2 final verdict.   

Greaver would continue her hot hitting in the second game, registering two more hits and another RBI as the Captains completed the sweep. Currin, Rochette, and sophomore Olivia Tullous each posted three base hits in the nightcap as CNU plated 11 runs on 16 hits off three Bridgewater pitchers. Tullous also knocked in three runs as CNU won its eighth straight game.

Sophomore Meredith Brickner and Greaver went back-to-back with sixth inning home runs, the only homers of the day for CNU, as Keith Parr's squad scored six times in the inning to put an end to the day's action. The home run for Brickner was her fourth of the season, a two-run shot, while Greaver notched her eighth of the year and 18th of her career, moving her into 9th place on the school's all-time home run list.

Christopher Newport now begins a stretch of ten straight games on the road. The first of five doubleheaders away from home will take place on Friday afternoon at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. The first game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.