THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The Thomas University softball team blanked Truett-McConnell this afternoon at Armory Field defeating the Bears 4-0.
 
The Lady Night Hawks jumped out to the 2-0 lead on the tenth pitch of the game when catcher Michael Cooper smashed a two-run homer over the left field fence.  The hit also scored right fielder Alex VanWagner who previously reached on a six pitch walk.
 
Starting pitcher Katie Lopes went to work over the next two innings to pitch to perfection.  The right-handed hurler would strike out four of the next nine batters she faced.
 
The Hunter Green and White expanded their lead to three in the bottom of the third when Carmen Nadal chopped a grounder to second scoring VanWagner from third.  Earlier in the inning, VanWagner singled to short to get on base.  She then stole second and would later advance to third on a single by Chandler Seay.
 
Lopes continued her stellar pitching performance recording three more of her game total 10 strikeouts.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Night Hawks plated an insurance run to widen the lead to 4-0.  Rachel Hoeft started the inning off with a single to center.  Brittany Daniels would come on to pinch run for Hoeft. Daniels immediately stole second on TMC's reliever Taylor Nix's first pitch.  Nervously, Nix would throw a wild pitch to advance Daniels to third.  On a 1-2 count, pitch hitter Kallie Shirling launched a single to left to plate Daniels for the fourth run of the game.
 
Thomas improves to 2-1 on the year while Truett-McConnell falls to 2-5.  Lopes, who gave up eight hits and no runs in her seven innings of work, picked up her second win of the season while Truett-McConnell's Carson Hagin suffered the loss.
 
The Lady Night Hawks return to action on Friday, Feb. 13 when they host Coastal Georgia.  First pitch from Armory Field is set for 3 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on these games and other TU Athletics, visit www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU softball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksSoftb.