BUCKHANNON – A pair of solid pitching performances lifted the West Virginia Wesleyan softball team to a pair of shutout wins over West Virginia State at Culpepper Field here Saturday afternoon in their Mountain East Conference opener.

Wesleyan took game one by a 3-0 score and won the second game by an 8-0 score in six-innings of action.

In game one, Hannah Vet (pictured) went the distance and allowed just two hits while not walking a batter and striking out four.

Wesleyan needed just one inning to secure the game – the fourth inning.

With one out, Olivia Gore put Wesleyan on the scoreboard with a home run to left-center field.

Megan Malenstyn followed with a double, and then Wesleyan used the long ball again when Krista Waggoner sent one over the right field fence.

The three runs in the fourth inning was the only scoring of the game.

Wesleyan collected seven hits in the contest with Brooklyn Waddell and Gore each getting two while Anna Eggleston, Malenstyn and Waggoner each had one hit apiece.

In the second outing, Eggleston twirled a complete-game shutout giving up four hits while walking no one and fanning one.

A two-out, two-run double by Waddell in the bottom of the second inning staked Wesleyan to a 2-0 lead.

Wesleyan picked up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth when Malenstyn knocked home Eggleston and Gore scored on a West Virginia State error.

The Lady 'Cats ended the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on the mercy rule with four runs.

Ashley Hurey had a two-run single and Waddell and Waggoner each drove home a run to account for the scoring.

Waddell paced the 11-hit Wesleyan attack with three this while Eggleston, Gore and Waggoner each had two hits.

The win was the sixth in a row for Wesleyan who improved their record to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the MEC.

They will return to action Sunday when they host Charleston in a doubleheader started at 1 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Peter Galarneau Jr.)