HARDEEVILLE – The USCB softball team started Sun Conference play on a sour note Sunday, dropping both games of a doubleheader to visiting Southeastern. 

The 13th-ranked Fire claimed a 14-2 victory in game one and edged the Sand Sharks 4-3 in eight innings in game two in both teams' first Sun Conference contests of the season. 

Cat Maldonado, the reigning Sun Conference Player of the Year, went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs and Brandee Pietrzak was 3-for-4 with three RBIs to fuel the Fire in the opener. 

Southeastern (28-10, 2-0 TSC) scored four runs in the second inning before Haley Brown's two-run blast cut the deficit in half. It was all Fire from there, as Southeastern scored four runs in the fifth and five in the sixth to break it open.

The Sand Sharks bounced back in game two behind a strong outing from freshman Abby Pac, who allowed two earned runs and seven hits over eight innings. Pac gave up two runs in the first then held the Fire at bay until the eighth.

Whitley Martin's RBI single in the second cut the deficit in half, and Brown launched a solo shot to left-center in the third to tie it. That's where it remained until Maldonado's two-run homer in the eighth gave the Fire a 4-2 lead.

The Sand Sharks pushed across one run in the bottom of the eighth and had the tying run in scoring position before Lindsie Scholwinski put out the threat.

Scholwinski was the winning pitcher in both games. She allowed two runs and four hits over five innings with seven strikeouts in the opener and surrendered three runs – two earned – and five hits over eight innings with 13 strikeouts in the finale. 

The Sand Sharks (15-16, 0-2) are back in action Monday, hosting Warner for a Sun Conference doubleheader at noon.