MARION, Ala. – The University of West Alabama softball team moved past the 40-win plateau with a pair of wins at Judson College on Tuesday.  UWA topped the Eagles 9-1 in the rain-soaked opener and blanked JC 9-0 in the second contest.

The Tigers snapped a three-game losing skid and pushed their season’s mark to 41-13.  The overall win total is the most since the 1988 campaign when the UWA program posted 42 wins under Liz Kelly.  The pair of run-rule affairs closed the books on UWA’s non-conference slate, turning in a 30-2 mark.  Both setbacks came on a neutral field.

Sophomore Valisha Fincher sparked the Tiger offensive production with a 2-for-3 performance, including a towering solo home run to start the second and a two-run double down the right field line in UWA’s three-run fourth.  Fincher finished the day with four RBIs on three hits.  The Red and White expanded the lead to 3-0 in the third with back-to-back RBI singles from Courtney Gordon and Emily White.  UWA plated a pair of runs in the fifth and the final run of the contest in the sixth.  Kelli Hartley laced a single to left field, plating two of her five RBIs on the day.  The Northport, Ala.-second baseman turned in her team-best 15^th home run of the season to open the scoring in the second affair along with her third triple of the year in the third.

JC posted its lone run in the bottom half of the third on a double off the bat of Chelsea Chamberlain.  UWA senior Aubree Hudson picked up her 15^th win of the season after tossing 3 2/3 innings pitched in the win. 

In the second game, UWA starter Emily White (5-2) was staked an early lead en route to a complete game outing.  White, making her first start in the circle since March 30, scattered five hits and fanned a pair.  The Ragland, Ala-senior helped her cause at the plate with a two RBI-double in the third, scoring two of the four runs in the frame.

The Tigers closed out the scoring in the fourth with their second-straight four-run inning, as Laura Bagwell drove in a run along with Hartley’s bases-clearing triple. 

UWA closes out the regular season this weekend, traveling to UAH on Saturday, April 25, before continuing on to Florence, Ala. to face North Alabama on Sunday, April 26.  First pitch from Huntsville is set for Noon.  Live stats will be available for both days at athletics.uwa.edu.