GREELEY, Colo. - The Southern Utah softball team split a doubleheader with the Northern Colorado Bears on Friday to move to 2-3 in Big Sky play.

Game One: SUU 4, UNC 12

The Thunderbirds scored the first run of the day in the first inning of game one. Sarah Murphy led off with a single through the right side and Taylei Williams brought her home with a RBI single through the left side.

The Bears scored in the next three innings making it 5-1 by the end of the third inning.

Southern Utah cut the Bears' lead to just 1 in the fourth inning after Taylei Williams opened the inning with a triple and Kendall Kapitzke followed with a two-run home run to left field. Kalei Watkins also hit a home run in the inning making it 5-4 UNC.

Northern Colorado hit two home runs in the fifth inning to make it 9-4 and then scored three more times in the sixth to end the game early.

Taylei Williams was 2-3 in the game and Javlyn Weaver went 2-2 with two doubles.

Game Two: SUU 9, UNC 4

After two scoreless innings to open game two, the Thunderbirds broke things open in the third. They scored six runs on six hits and two UNC errors. Murphy, Taylei Williams, Kapitzke, and Watkins all had RBIs in the inning.

Southern Utah extended their lead in the fourth as Taylei Williams brought home Samantha Guerra with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 7-0.

The Bears got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run home run to make it 7-2, but Javlyn Weaver answered back in the fifth with a two-run shot of her own to make it 9-2. UNC scored two more runs in the sixth inning before eventually falling 9-4.

Watkins was the starting pitcher in the circle for the Thunderbirds and pitched her third complete game of the season. The freshman gave up just seven hits and three earned runs while striking out three Bears.

Watkins had herself a day at the plate as well, going 3-6 on the day with three runs scored and three RBIs. Weaver and Taylei Williams also had three hits on the day with Weaver's all coming in the form of extra-base hits.

The Thunderbirds and the Bears will wrap up the series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Gloria Rodriguez Field. Live stats will be available at suutbirds.com or uncbears.com.

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