The Muhlenberg softball team scored twice in its first at-bat and went on to defeat McDaniel, 3-1 in the opening round of the Centennial Conference playoffs.

The win sends the second-seeded Mules (20-19) into the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament. They will face fourth-seeded Gettysburg, a 3-1 winner against Swarthmore, on Friday at Swarthmore. The winner of that game advances to Saturday's championship round.

Muhlenberg managed only five hits in the game, but three of them came in the first four batters and proved to be all the offense the team would need.

Senior Sarah Karmazyn led off with a double to the gap in right-center - her 13th two-bagger of the season, tied for the third-most in program history. One out later, sophomore Gillian Zack doubled over the head of the left fielder. Karmazyn had to hold up to see if the ball would be caught and stopped at third.

The next batter, freshman Kaitlyn Buurman, dumped a single into right to easily score both runners.

The Mules extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth when senior Kristin Oberg led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second and came home on a two-out single by sophomore Raya Kunes, the starting pitcher.

Kunes shut out the Green Terror (18-22) on one hit through the first four innings but gave up a run on a double and a single in the fifth. Senior Cora Bridgers came on in relief and retired the final two hitters of the inning.

Bridgers ran into some trouble in the sixth when three of the first four batters singled. It might have been four straight singles to start the inning, but Oberg alertly fielded a bloop to shallow left and threw to third for a forceout.

With one out and the bases loaded, Bridgers recorded her lone strikeout of the game, the 299th of her career, then retired the side on a soft liner to senior Sarah Raab at second.

McDaniel put the leadoff runner on base in the seventh before Bridgers retired the final three hitters to secure her second career save and the Mules' first playoff win since 2014.