NEWARK, DE -- The James Madison University softball team hit five home runs to sweep a doubleheader from Delaware, 9-1 and 4-0, Saturday afternoon at Delaware Field.

The Dukes, who have now won seven straight games, improved to 26-14 overall and 8-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Blue Hens, who had a six-game winning streak snapped in the opener, dropped to 13-16-1 overall and 5-6 in the conference.

Katie George put James Madison ahead in the opener by hitting a leadoff homer to leftfield, but Delaware answered in the bottom of the inning. Allison Borchers led off the frame with a single to rightcenter, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout by Katie Lee, and scored on a two-out single to left by Michelle Kenney (at right).

However the Dukes regained the lead in the third when Jenn Chavez homered to leftcenter, and added four runs in the fourth to pull away. With runners on first and second and one out, Brittney Lyddane stole third and came around to score when Blue Hen catcher Quinn Megargel’s throw went into leftfield. Brittney Dyson was then thrown out at the plate by Kim Ovittore on Kaitlyn Wernsing’s fielder’s choice, but George singled and Jenny Clohan drilled a three-run homer to left to make it a 6-1 game.

In the sixth Chavez doubled home Clohan and then scored on a single by Julia Dominguez to increase the lead to 8-1, while an RBI single by Sally Smith in the seventh closed the scoring.

Clohan improved to 10-6 for the Dukes after allowing one run on four hits and striking out three, while Blue Hen starter Carolynn Sloat fell to 7-8 as she gave up nine earned runs on 14 hits while posting five strikeouts.

Dominguez gave James Madison the lead in the nightcap by leading off the top of the second inning with a home run to center. The Dukes maintained their one-run cushion until the top of the seventh, when George drilled a three-run homer to center to make it a 4-0 game. Delaware put its first two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh as Ovittore and Kenney both reached on errors, but Dukes starter Meredith Felts got Michelle Plant to fly out before Megargel bounced into a double play to end the game.

Felts improved to 11-2 on the season after striking out five batters in a three-hit shutout, while Delaware starter Samantha Shawn dropped to 4-6 as she allowed four runs on eight hits.

Ovittore had a double and a triple on the day to lead the Delaware attack, while Kenney also had a hit in each game for the Blue Hens.

Delaware and James Madison conclude their weekend series on Sunday with a single game beginning at 12 noon at Delaware Field.

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