CARROLLTON, Ga. – The University of West Alabama softball team won two of its three games on the opening day of the 2009 Wolves Invitational on Friday in Carrollton, Ga.  UWA (14-2) claimed a 10-2 decision to NCAA Division I foe IUPUI to open the day and followed that feat with an extra-inning, 3-1, win over Augusta State.  The Tigers dropped the final game of the day to Georgia College & State, 6-3.

The eight-run win over NCAA Division I foe IUPUI is the first win over a top division program since a pair of wins over Jackson State to open the 2003 season.  The Jaguars, who compete in the Summit League, topped Gulf South Conference opponent North Alabama prior to falling to the Tigers.

In the morning session against IUPUI, the Tigers rallied from a 1-0 deficit, using the home run ball to erase the Jaguars’ edge.  Senior Emily White drilled her third round tripper of the season in the third inning.  UWA emerged from the fourth inning with the lead, 3-1, after sophomore Kelli Hartley powered a two-run home run in the frame, plating Valisha Fincher, who reached base via a walk.  After IUPUI posted a run in the fifth, UWA exploded for seven runs in the sixth to run-rule the Jaguars.  The Red and White took advantage of three IUPUI miscues along with three hits in the frame.  UWA starter, Aubree Hudson tossed three complete innings to notch her fourth win of the season before giving way to Jessica Cervantes, who handled the circle in the final three innings for her third save of the season.

UWA was down to its final at-bat in the ASU tilt, as pinch hitter Jennifer Lillard came through in the clutch with a base hit to right field, scoring senior Courtney Gordon to send the game to extra innings and to the international tie-breaker rule.  In the eighth, Senior Ashley Edgar was placed at second base and was pushed over to third on Laura Bagwell’s sacrifice.  She scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.  Hartley added a Tiger insurance run with a line shot to second base, scoring Fincher.

After giving up an early ASU run in the second inning, the UWA pitching staff stymied ASU offense.  Tiger starter White pitched 5-2/3 innings and scattered five hits in her outing.  Senior Brittany McGee pitched out of a jam in the sixth after ASU had runners in scoring position at second and third.  Edgar picked off the runner at third before McGee got a ground out to end the frame.

UWA dug itself a hole against Georgia College & State, as the Bobcats plated five of their six runs in the first three at-bats.  The Tigers took a brief 2-1 lead after one complete inning, but GCSU plated three runs in the second.  Jessica Powell, who walked to get UWA’s two-run first going, scored on a wild pitch.  Gordon drove in Hartley for the Tigers’ second run.  White belted her second home run of the day in the fourth with a solo shot.

UWA closes out the two-day event on Saturday, March 7, against Georgia Southwestern at 9 a.m. and finishes the day with a 1 p.m. contest with Florida Southern.