NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University swept a softball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Captains Park, beating Averett University by scores of 6-1 and 10-2. The second game ended in the sixth inning due to the eight-run mercy rule. Keith Parr's team is now 8-0 to start the season, while the Cougars fell to 4-4.

Through the first eight games of the season, the Captains have now out-scored their opponents by a 63-10 total, and CNU is averaging almost eight runs scored per game. The Captains erupted for 16 runs on 28 hits in the two triumphs Tuesday, and fifth-year senior third baseman Brooke Greaver brought home three runs in the opener, and senior second baseman Olivia Tullous drove home four in the nightcap, including three with her first home run of the season.

Greaver opened the scoring in the first game with a two-run double in the first inning, and later ended the scoring in the sixth inning with an infield single that produced a run. Sophomore centerfielder Candace Slaw plated a run with an RBI single in the second frame, and senior first baseman Meredith Brickner and senior leftfielder Sammy Drew both posted run-scoring doubles in the fifth inning inning to give the Captains all the run production they would need for starting pitcher Jamie Martin.. 

In the nightcap, starter Kate Alger was the benefactor of two big innings as the Captains pulled away from the Cougars. CNU jumped to a 4-0 edge in the first, and later put five on the board in the fifth. Greaver drove in two more runs with a single and a double, and Tullous posted an RBI single in the first, and later smacked the only home run of the day in the fifth to make it 9-2. CNU pushed across the tenth run in the sixth on an RBI infield single from sophomore Natalie Quinlan to end the game.

Slaw, the Rookie of the Year last year in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference, was six-for-eight in the twin bill, and scored four runs. She is now hitting .593 (16 for 27) on the year with 15 runs scored in the first eight contests. Greaver, meanwhile, has driven in 17 runs already this season in just eight games.

Christopher Newport senior pitchers Jamie Martin and Kate Alger each went the distance to earn the victories in the twin bill on a sunny and cool day at Captains Park. Martin was in the circle in the opener, and allowed just one unearned run and six hits in seven innings of pitching, striking out 11 and issuing no walks. Martin upped her record to 4-0 with the win. Alger threw six innings in the nightcap, and improved to 3-0 on the year by yielding one earned run on eight hits, while striking out two and walking two.

Christopher Newport now has a 72-17 all-time record vs. Averett. The schools were former league-mates in the Dixie and USA South Athletic Conferences.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Christopher Newport jumped up two spots to seventh in the country in the first in-season national poll from the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Associataion). CNU was ranked ninth in the pre-season poll, and moved up to seventh following six straight victories to begin the year.

The Captains travel to Raleigh, N.C., this weekend for the Grand Slam Triangle Classic. CNU will open play in the weekend tournament by playing Arcadia University Saturday at 2:30 p.m., the first of four games scheduled over two days.