ARNOLD, MD – The Anne Arundel Community College softball team opened the season at home Saturday, dropping a doubleheader against visiting Mercer County Community College. The Vikings won the first game, 9-1, in five innings, and topped the Riverhawks in a six-inning second game, winning 11-2.

Hannah Davis recorded the lone hit and scored the only run for AACC in the opener. The Vikings used three home runs in the top of the first to plate five runs before Davis crossed for the Riverhawks in the bottom of the inning. The Vikings added a pair in the second and fifth.

Gracie Culley took the loss for the Riverhawks with eight earned runs on 10 hits. She fanned three and walked five.

In the nightcap, outfielder Jasmine Schouster went 3-for-3 as the Riverhawks tallied seven hits in the game. After spotting Mercer a 1-0 lead in the first, the Riverhawks tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a Kyleigh McQuade RBI groundout. Down 8-1 in the fourth, Culley plated Sylvia Frye with an RBI single. Mercer added three in the sixth and stranded two Riverhawks in the bottom of the frame to take the win.

Veronica Hampton shouldered the loss, striking out two and walking four while scattering nine hits through four innings. Culley fanned two in one inning of relief before Davis closed out the game facing seven batters.

The Riverhawks (0-2) open MDJUCO play at Catonsville Thursday in a 3 pm doubleheader.