(Raleigh, NC) -  The Shaw softball team garnered their first win of the season in a split of a doubleheader with Lees-McRae, winning the first 9-8 in eight innings, then dropping the nightcap 15-3 in six innings.

In the first game, both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, then exploded for three in the third.  The Lady Bears plated two of those runs on a home run by Erica Lafrades.  Nikitta Burroughs scored the third run after she was hit by a pitch, then scored when Monica Grimmage lined a double into right field.

Trailing 7-4 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Bears scored two, with Emily Montgomery doubling, getting to third on a passed ball, then scoring on Cheslea Holliday's groundout.  Jolene Arroyo later scored after reaching base on a walk.

Lees-McRae scored another in the top of the seventh to make the score 8-6 going into the last half inning.  With two outs, Grimmage hit a single into center, and Montgomery tied the game with a home run.

With a runner on second to begin the extra innings, the Bobcats got a single with two outs, but the runner could not score.  In the bottom of the extra inning, Arroyo started on second, and Holliday's sacrifice fly to center moved her to third.  She scored, winning the game, when the Bobcats' left fielder could not make the play on a Shakia Pledger's fly ball.

Pledger was the winning pitcher in the first game, pitching all eight innings, giving up nine hits, eight runs – seven earned – and five strike outs and five walks.  Montgomery and Grimmage were both two for four in the first game, with Montgomery scoring two runs.  Arroyo scored three runs in the game.

The second game did not go as well for the Lady Bears, as they fell 15-3 in six on the mercy rule. 

After giving up only one run in the first and third, Shaw starting pitcher Daniela Archibald faced six batters in the fourth without getting an out, and giving up six runs – five earned.  Pledger was called in to relieve and got out of the inning.

The Lady Bears got back one of the runs in the bottom of the fourth, when Erneisha Cooper drove in Phytina Hyde.  After giving up one in the top of the fifth, the Bears got two back when Lafrades hit her second home run of the afternoon, plating Kashia Hemphill, who had reached on a double to center.  The home run cut the lead to 9-3, sending the game into a sixth inning.

The Bobcats scored six in the top of the sixth, and the Lady Bears went down in order in the bottom of the inning to put the final at 15-3. 

Montgomery went two for three in the second game, while Lafrades had two RBI on her home run and one-for-three performance. 

With the split, Shaw is 1-3 on the season.  Pledger is now 1-1 on the season, while Archibald falls to 0-2.

The Lady Bears take to the field on Friday for a doubleheader against Anderson at 4:00 p.m. at the Walnut Creek Softball Complex at 1201 Sunnybrook Road.