Complete hitting, crooked frames, effective pitching and a strong defensive effort from top to bottom.

A coach can't ask for much more from his or her players than that.

The Shawnee State Bears' softball program wasted no time pouncing on the Alice Lloyd Eagles' softball program Tuesday evening -- as Cassie Berry and Cameryn Davidson combined to throw a two-hitter in Game 1 while SSU pitchers Amariah Hoerner and Genavie Espinoza, behind their own crafty work as well as a stingy SSU defense, gave up just five hits in Game 2.

Defensively, the Bears committed just one error over the two-game set -- and offensively, Shawnee State notched 19 runs on 28 hits, leading to the Bears collecting 10-2 and 9-1 triumphs over the Alice Lloyd Eagles' softball program in six-inning mercy-rule victories at Doc Singleton Park in West Portsmouth to move to 20 games above .500 for the year and 10 games above .500 in River States Conference action.

Game 1

The Bears wasted no time hitting the board first in the bottom half of the opening frame -- as a one-out single by Cassie Berry and a double by Lauren Spears cracked open the window of opportunity for Mackenzie Hale, who delivered with a two-RBI double to right center field to score both Berry and Spears standing up.

SSU, who took a 2-0 lead as a result of that opening frame, saw its lead go away as Alice Lloyd tied the score at two apiece briefly in the top half of the third frame. However, the Bears came back with a five-run bottom of the third that proved to be huge -- as after a leadoff walk by Berry, an error set the table for Sierra Dunnagan to come up and deliver a two-RBI double of her own to right center field, giving Shawnee State a 4-2 lead.

Lexie Lockwood, Allison Tom, and Brittani Wolfenbarker then added in three consecutive RBI-producing base hits at the bottom of the order -- as Lockwood's RBI double to left, Tom's RBI single to left and Wolfenbarker's RBI single to dead center allowed Shawnee State to break Game 1 open with a five-run third, turning the two-all tie into a commanding 7-2 advantage.

With Berry -- who threw four innings of two-hit, four-strikeout softball -- and Cameryn Davidson, who fired two innings in relief without allowing a hit in the circle -- rolling, the SSU offense was able to increase its lead.

The Bears posted a run in the fifth inning as after a single by Lockwood -- and a fantastic slide by the sophomore talent that allowed the left fielder to beat the incoming tag -- Wolfenbarker followed with another RBI single to center field to bring Lockwood home. SSU finalized the run-rule win in Game 1 in the sixth, as singles by Spears and Dunnagan were followed by an RBI-producing single by Hale and a sacrifice fly from Amariah Hoerner to cap off the 10-2 triumph.

Game 2

In Game 2, Alice Lloyd took a brief 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI single by Aspyn Branham -- but that lead was short-lived as Shawnee State answered back behind a leadoff single by Jenna Christopher and an error on a sacrifice bunt by Bianca Belo-Diaz that allowed Christopher to motor all the way home from first base to tie the score at one apiece.

Then -- as was the case in the third frame -- the Bears struck gold in the third again, hitting on another five-piece. A leadoff single by Brittani Wolfenbarker and a one-out double to center field by Belo-Diaz set the table for the No. 4 and No. 5-hole hitters, Sierra Dunnagan and Mackenzie Hale, to do their usual thing, as Dunnagan's two-RBI double to the center field fence and Hale's RBI single back up the middle of the diamond gave Shawnee State a 4-1 lead.

Lauren Spears' double then again put two runners in scoring position for Lexie Lockwood, who jumped all over an early-count pitch and shot it into the right field corner to score both Hale and Spears.

While Lockwood was unsuccessfully waved around and was tagged out on a valiant attempt to score on an inside-the-park home run, the two-RBI triple was still a punctuation on the five-run inning, which put Shawnee State ahead by a 6-1 mark after three innings complete.

With Amariah Hoerner throwing effectively -- as evidenced by her four strikeouts to one walk in four innings of work -- and Genavie Espinoza holding her own in relief, Shawnee State was able to add to its lead in the late stages again.

In the fifth inning, three consecutive singles by Lauren Spears, Espinoza, and Lockwood allowed Brittani Wolfenbarker to produce an RBI groundout, and in the sixth frame, a wild pitch allowed the final pair of runs to score with ease as an Alice Lloyd pitch caromed off of the backstop and back halfway toward the pitching circle, with nobody able to track the ball in time on the Alice Lloyd side to prevent the second mercy rule ending and the 9-1 final.

Additional

A total of 10 different Shawnee State players reached the hit column between both contests, with Lexie Lockwood (5-for-6, triple, double, three RBI, two runs scored), Sierra Dunnagan (4-for-7, walk, two doubles, three RBI, four runs scored) and Lauren Spears (4-for-7, two doubles, five RBI, five runs scored) heading the charge. Brittani Wolfenbarker (3-for-4, three RBI, run scored), Mackenzie Hale (3-for-7, walk, double, four RBI, run scored) and Jenna Christopher (3-for-8, run scored) all had three or more hits each between the two mercy rule victories, as well.

Cassie Berry also went 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored in addition to her pitching performance in Game 1, while Bianca Belo-Diaz went 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, an RBI and two runs scored in the victory.

Shawnee State (27-7, 17-7 RSC) sits just three wins away from clinching the softball program's first 30-win season since 2006. The Bears will be back in action at Alice Lloyd (14-28, 3-23 RSC) Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. as SSU looks to pursue two of those three victories in a doubleheader will take place in Pippa Passes, Ky.

For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages at https://twitter.com/ SSUBears, https://www. facebook.com/SSUBears, https:/ /www.instagram.com/ssubears/? hl=en, and https://www. youtube.com/@ ssubearsathletics/videos. For more information on how to join the SSU Bear Club or for sponsorship of specific SSU players or events, visit https://givetossu.com/ bear-club and https:// givetossu.com/sponsorthebears.