Picking up a pair of Southeast Conference wins in the league opener on Thursday is exactly what the Washington softball team did when they swept Fort Madison at home. 

A strong outing in the circle by Cara Linnenkamp paved the way to a 3-0 victory in game one. The senior was dealing all night by tossing a complete game shutout giving up only four hits, one walk, and striking out six in 100 pitches. Linnenkamp and Isabella Salazar led the offense with a pair of knocks and Kellie Dallmeyer brought in two tallies. 

The nightcap featured a couple lead changes with the Demons winning in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh. The wacky ending happened when the Bloodhounds (1-6) forced an infield fly, but Washington’s Taylor Bartholomew was on third and caught the defense napping by scoring on a sac fly for the game winner.  The Demons had 11 hits with Linnenkamp and Elyse Hunt each having two knocks with a pair of RBI. Ella Greiner went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Linnenkamp tossed the final three frames for her second win of the night. Salazar threw four innings giving up two earned runs on two hits. 

Washington improved to 4-5 after the day and 2-0 in SEC play.