SALISBURY, Md. -- Virginia Wesleyan College's softball Marlins cranked out 20 hits, including five home runs, en route to a pair of impressive victories Friday in the Salisbury University Invitational.

The Marlins (9-1) recorded two round-trippers in an opening 7-2 win over York College of Pennsylvania and added three more in a 10-1 victory over Gettysburg College.

Junior Jaclyn Quinn (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) (left) knocked out two homers in the back-to-back games, including a solo shot in the first inning to put VWC on the scoreboard against York (8-3).  The Marlins took the lead with a two-run fifth, helped by a two-run double from junior Brenae Pettit (Onancock, Va./Nandua).

But, the big blast in the game came for VWC in the bottom of the sixth when rookie Season Dailey (Norfolk, Va./Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox) (right) ripped a grand slam that launched the Marlins into a 7-2 lead that held up the the final out.  Brianna Bertovich (Richmond, Va./Monacan) and Chelsea Henline (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) both reached base on singles in front of Dailey.

The Marlins' hitting was supported by a standout pitching performance from rookie MacKenzie Creech (Hillsborough, N.C./Orange) (left).  She faced 23 batters and struck out a season-high 11, tying VWC's rookie record in the process.  She matched the mark set by Heidi Hill against Thiel College in 1998, a record that was tied by Becky Sowell in 2003 against Bridgewater College.

Creech, who gave up just four hits, improved to 4-1 in the first game and sophomore Chrissy Crawford (Norfolk, Va./Granby) remained undefeated in the second game, improving to 5-0.  She struck out four batters and scattered seven hits ien route to the win in the five-inning game.

VWC led from the start, posting five runs in the first inning. The Marlins connected for three hits, including doubles from Quinn and Henline, to help spark the scoring.

The Marlins added two runs in the top of the second inning, which started with Pettit drawing a walk.  Quinn followed her to the plate and belted her second home run of the day to send VWC into a 7-2 lead.

VWC added a single run in the fourth on a RBI-single from Heather Bishop (Virginia Beach/Ocean Lakes), and tacked on two more runs on home runs in the fifth.  Rookie Kelly Keys (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) led off with a shot over the fence  and rookie Tori Higginbotham (Glen Allen, Va./J.R. Tucker) followed her with another solo blast.

Higginbothm hit 4-for-7 in the two games, while Henline, Bertovich and Quinn all had three hits for the Marlins.  Bertovich extended a hitting streak to five consecutive games.

Megan Lott (Beltsville, Md./Pallotti), Catrina DelGais (Airmont, N.Y./Suffern) and Katie Lang (Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk) all belted two singles each for the Bullets.  Taylor Snyder (Little Silve, N.J./Red Bank) took the pitching loss for Gettysburg.

Chelsea Bock (Riegelsville, Pa./Wilson) dropped to 3-2 in the circle for York, pitching five innings before being relieved by Brittany Therres (Hughesville, Md./Thomas Stone).  Bock struck out three batters and gave up five hits and three earned runs.

Karen Carr (Baltimore, Md./Landsdowne) was the only Spartan to collect two hits, one a double.

Virginia Wesleyan competes in the Salisbury event again on Saturday, Mar. 12, facing Shenandoah University's Hornets (7-5) at 2 p.m.  The Hornets fell 1-0 to Lynchburg College in the tourney and won 7-0 over Wilkes University.  VWC will also play at 4 p.m. against New York's Baruch College (0-2).  The Bearcats fell 4-3 to York and 8-0 to Lynchburg.

--AMDG