The Muhlenberg softball team enjoyed its first day in Myrtle Beach, posting a pair of shutouts and making some history along the way.

The Mules defeated UMass-Boston, 3-0, and Sarah Lawrence, 16-0, for their first two wins of the season. Senior Cora Bridgers and sophomores Raya Kunes and Isabella Fogle combined to allow only four hits in the two games. That's the fewest hits allowed by Muhlenberg in winning two shutout games on the same day since 2013, when Misericordia managed just three hits in a doubleheader loss. 

In the Sarah Lawrence game, the Mules scored their most runs in a shutout since 1999, when they blanked Swarthmore 22-0. It was the seventh-biggest shutout win in program history.

But the biggest piece of history came from Bridgers, who broke a school record by fanning seven straight UMass-Boston batters. The previous school record of six straight strikeouts was set by Elaine Gratrix twice, once in 1990 and once in 1991. Bridgers fanned the final two batters of the first inning, struck out the side in the second and recorded two more strikeouts to start the third before her streak came to an end with a groundout. 

Bridgers finished with a three-hitter for her seventh career shutout. She fanned 11, one short of her career high, to record her seventh career double-digit strikeout game.

The teams combined for only five hits through the first six innings and entered the final frame in a scoreless deadlock. Freshman Kaya Mahy led off the top of the seventh with a single and went to second on an infield error. After one out, Bridgers helped her own cause by beating out a bunt to load the bases. 

Sophomore Dara DiMaiolo (pictured above) followed with a pinch-hit single through the right side to bring home the first two runs of the game. 

The Mules tacked on a third run on a double steal play, but Bridgers had no trouble protecting the lead, retiring the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to polish off the win.

As tense and highly contested as the first game was, the second game was something entirely different. Muhlenberg scored in each of its four at-bats, breaking open a 4-0 game by plating eight runs in the third. Eleven different Mules recorded at least one hit, and 12 either scored a run or drove in one.

That was plenty for Kunes, who came up with her own pitching gem to record her first career victory. Kunes faced 12 batters and retired them all, challenging Bridgers' new record by fanning six straight batters from the second through the fourth innings. She finished with a career-high seven strikeouts and also helped the offense with a triple.

Senior Madison Palat drove in the Mules' first two runs with a first-inning single. Freshman Kaitlyn Buurman (single in the third) and sophomores Sabrina Reichelt (double in the third) and Samantha Winegard (double in the fourth) also had hits that drove in two runs.

Mahy and freshman Ava Calabrese each recorded a pair of singles. Mahy is 6-for-11 to start her career.