STAUNTON, Va. - The Mary Baldwin softball team defeated N.C. Wesleyan 9-1 Tuesday in Game 2 of a doubleheader to salvage a split with the Battling Bishops.

In the opener, the teams traded runs in the second inning. After the Bishops took a 1-0 lead, MBU senior Sam Grimsley tied the score with a run-scoring single up the middle.

The visitors regained the lead with a run in the third and then added three runs in the fourth to lead 5-1. MBU scored its final run in the bottom of the fourth when Hadley May belted a solo homer, her conference-leading ninth dinger of the season.

In the second game, Molly Thompson gave the Fighting Squirrels the lead with a three-run homer in the second. May walked and Trinity Thomas singled before Thompson belted her homer over the left-cnter field fence.

After the Bishops scored o run in the top of the fourth, MBU answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Thomas and Thompson each walked before Grimsley grounded into a force play. Reagan Frazier then hit her first career homer, a three-run shot, to put the Squirrels up 6-1.

MBU tacked on another run in the fifth when Olivia Gagne led off with a triple and scored on Allison Crum's groundout for a 7-1 lead. 

Mary Baldwin loaded the bases in the sixth and Emily Hall ended the game with a two-run single for the final 9-1 margin.

Thompson pitched a complete game to get the win, allowing just one earned run on nfive hits.

Mary Baldwinn concludes conference play Saturday when the team travels to Buena Vista, Va., for a doubleheader with Southern Virginia.