INSTITUTE, W.Va. - The University of Charleston softball team blasted Kanawha Valley rival WV State 8-3 and 6-2 to sweep a road conference doublheader and push their WVIAC record to a spotless 8-0 mark on Saturday afternoon.

Two of the top pitchers in the WVIAC faced off in the first contest as Charleston put the first runs on the board for the game in the top of the third inning. Andrea Hayes (Columbus, OH) opened the inning with a perfectly placed bunt single before advancing on a Ashlea Wallace (Winfield, WV) single that was corralled by the Yellow Jacket infield. Aspen Echelmeier (Auburn, CA) made WV State pay with a tough battle at the plate that concluded with a blast well beyond the left field fence to take an immediate 3-0 advantage.

The Yellow Jackets got within 3-1 with a solo homerun in the home half of the fourth, before the University of Charleston put their foot on the throttle to apply pressure on a fragile Yellow Jacket defense.

An error allowed the Golden Eagles to plate a run in the top of the sixth, but that wouldn't be the end of the scoring for Charleston.

Hits by Janeen Vazquez (Cincinnati, OH),  Angel Withrow (Cross Lanes, WV) and  Echelmeier were compounded by a WV State error to allowed the Golden Eagles to run away with the contest with three unearned runs that would break the game wide open at 8-2.

University of Charleston ace Emily Fultz (Germantown, OH) nearly got through the game unscathed but WV State went down fighting with two runs in their final at-bat before the freshman power pitcher retired the final outs of the contest to secure her 13th win of her rookie season.

At the plate for UC, Echelmeier led the way with a 3-for-3 performance that included the game changing slam.

WV State jumped on the scoreboard first in the second contest with a two-run homerun on the fifth pitch of the game against Charleston hurler Kelsee Blackwell (New Castle, IN).

Head coach Ray Loeser manufactured a run in the third inning after Bethany Cera (Bellaire, OH) led the inning off with a single. Cera advanced to second on a wild pitch that allowed Hayes to do her job in laying down a sacrifice bunt that put the Golden Eagles first threat just 60 feet away. Senior Logan Tretick (Round Hill, VA) delivered as would be expected with a sacrice fly to right field that allwoed Cera to easily score Charleston's first run of the contest.

A Jacqueline Carlin (Whittier, CA) double to open the next inning led to the second run of the contest as Withrow picked up the RBI to knot the game at 2-2.

Blackwell gave the University of Charleston a strong start in the circle, but Fultz returned to the action in the fourth inning to quell any thought the Yellow Jackets had of a comeback opportuntity.

A two-run homerun that was blasted out the dead center field by Wallace started the run that opened the game for the Golden Eagles.

WV State made a pitching change that didn't help to slow the scoring pace of UC as Carlin and Ayla Santos (Calvert County, MD) were each credited with runs batted in to close the inning with the Golden Eagles ahead 6-2/

Fultz did her job in making the score hold up in registering her 14th win of the season as the University of Charleston booked a 6-2 win.

Wallace and Withrow each accounted for two hits in an eight hit effort for UC in the victory.

Charleston will look to continue its red-hot start in conference play as they take their eight game winning streak to West Liberty for a 3:00 pm doubleheader on Tuesday, April 3.