Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
The early struggles of the 2013 Florida experience for the John Carroll softball team  seem to be a distant memory in the wake of Friday's complete team effort.

Timely pitching and clutch hitting delivered a pair of four-run wins for the Blue Streaks at the National Training Center in Clermont as JCU downed Thiel by a 4-0 count and Northwestern (MN) by a 5-1 score.

John Carroll collected ten hits against the Tomcats, doing all its scoring damage in the middle innings. Mackenzie Griffin doubled home one run in the third, while Beckie Reid (triple) and Samantha Becker (two-out single) accounted for the three runs driven home in the fourth.

The offense supported a stellar effort by Rachel Byrnes, who allowed just four hits, walked none, and struck out two in her second consecutive shutout.

In almost a carbon copy of game one, middle inning magic carried the day offensively and a strong pitching performance by Trish Pike was the perfect compliment in John Carroll's 5-1 win over Northwestern.

The big difference was, of course, the run scored by the Eagles when Morgan Pfaff hit a two-out solo home run in the second.

The Streaks bounced back in a big way with a three-run outburst in the bottom of the third. After a lead off walk drawn by Becker, consecutive singles by Erica Chiudioni, Griffin and Ally Kleinhans delivered JCU a lead it would not relinquish. Two more runs were produced in the fourth inning, with an RBI single by Colleen Brady plating the fifth and final run.

Pike struck out seven to earn her second win of the season.