DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University softball gave first-year head coach Carol Oberhelman a pair of wins in her debut as the Cougars defeated Salem College in a doubleheader sweep to open the season Saturday at Cougar Field. Averett won 11-3 in six innings and 17-1 in five innings.
 
In Game 1, Averett (2-0) jumped on Salem (0-2) early. The Cougars loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first and took a 1-0 advantage on senior Lauren Nelson's RBI single. Two more runs scored on freshman Mackenzi Luckenbaugh's two-RBI single to right field.

Up 3-0, Averett took advantage of three hits and three errors in the second inning to increase its lead to 8-0. Nelson had an RBI single, junior Taylor Sullivan had an RBI after reaching on an error and Luckenbaugh added two more RBIs with her single as part of the big inning.

Sullivan's RBI double was part of two more runs Averett plated in the third to take a commanding 10-0 lead over Salem. The run support was plenty for Sullivan (1-0), who had a stellar season debut. She struck out 10 of the 16 batters she faced and allowed just three hits in four innings.

After a pitching change by the Cougars, Salem put together three runs in the top of the fifth to temporarily keep the game going. However, Averett ended it early by run rule in the sixth inning thanks to Luckenbaugh's RBI triple to the fence in left field for the walk-off victory.

Luckenbaugh finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs in her collegiate debut, while fellow freshman Kailey Gates went 4-for-4 with three runs scored in her first game as a Cougar. Nelson also added three hits for Averett, which totaled 14 hits as a team in Game 1.
 
In Game 2, Averett again found offensive success early, batting around. After reaching on a fielding error, Gates stole second and third, then eventually scored on a wild pitch to give the Cougars a 1-0 advantage against the Spirits. After Nelson's RBI groundout scored sophomore Angela Rodriguez, the strong base-running continued for the Cougars. With senior Karsin Lee at third, Luckenbaugh walked and then took off to steal second base. Lee got in a run-down between third and home, but managed to score after sliding around the tag. Meanwhile, Luckenbaugh advanced to third on the play. That proved to be beneficial as junior Olivia Jones dropped an RBI single into shallow right field to increase Averett's lead to 4-0. Sophomore Hannah Jones continued the inning with a two-out, two-run single to make it 6-0.

In the bottom of the second, Averett loaded the bases and brought home its seventh run of the game on a wild pitch that scored Rodriguez. After a walk reloaded the bases, Olivia Jones crushed a three-run double to left field to increase the Cougars' lead to 10-0. Gates followed with an RBI single up the middle as the onslaught continued.

Salem got one run back in the third on a double by Madeline Brown, who advanced home on an error on the play to close the gap to 11-1. The Cougars got it right back in the bottom of the third thanks to an error that scored sophomore Salem Hill from second base.

Rodriguez tacked on a three-run triple in the fourth to extend Averett's advantage to 15-1, and she scored on another Salem error. The Cougars added two more runs before the game ended by mercy rule after four and a half innings.
Rodriguez and freshman Hannah Zabik each scored three runs in Game 2.
 
Averett returns to action on the road against former USA South Athletic Conference foe Pfeiffer University on March 1.
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