CARTERET, N.J. – The Union College softball team got its 2026 season off to a good start on Saturday afternoon, sweeping Centenary (N.J.) University by the scores of 7-0 and 10-2 (6 innings).
 
Sophomore Kyla Springer led the wide-ranging offensive attack by going 5-for-7 with five runs scored, as 10 different players scored at least one run and eight drove in at least one run.
 
Game 1: Union 7, Centenary 0
 
Sophomore Carra Cleaves did it all for Union in a game-one win, tossing a four-hit shutout with a career-high 14 strikeouts while also delivering her first collegiate home run and driving in a pair of runs. The 14 strikeouts are the most by a Union hurler in over a decade, since Alyssa Wolejko '14 had 16 on April 5, 2014 versus Clarkson University. Springer also went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and senior Ellie Wintringer had two hits and drove in two as well.
 
Union needed only three batters to take the lead for good, as junior Sam Rose led off with a walk, stole second and came around on a Springer RBI triple. Wintringer followed with an run-scoring double and the Garnet Chargers had a two-run lead before Centenary had an at-bat.
 
That was more than enough for Cleaves, who worked out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the first inning and allowed only two runners to reach scoring position the rest of the afternoon. She struck out the side on two occasions in the second and fourth frames and had at least one punchout in all seven innings.
 
The visitors added two more runs in the second on back-to-back RBI singles from first-year Amelia Ormond (her first collegiate hit) and Springer, and Cleaves added to the ledger with a solo homer to lead off the third. Three straight doubles from Springer, Wintringer and Cleaves produced two more runs in the fourth to cap the scoring.
 
Game 2: Union 10, Centenary 2 (6 innings)
 
The offense kept coming for Union in game two, scoring 10 runs on seven hits to complete the sweep. First-year Ashley Callery launched a three-run homer and drove in a game-high four runs for the visitors, while senior Haley Gibbons drove in a pair and both Ormond and Springer scored three times apiece. Ormond also had four walks in the game, the most for a Union player in a game in at least 20 years.
 
The Garnet Chargers again wasted no time going ahead in game two, as five of the game's first six batters came around to score. Springer plated Ormond with another first-inning triple, followed by an RBI double by junior Sophia Gomes. After a hit batter, Callery stepped up and drove her first collegiate hit over the fence to make it a 5-0 game.
 
Ormond walked again to start a rally in the second inning, coming home on Wintringer base hit. Callery added a sacrifice fly later in the frame to bump the lead up to seven. After scoreless third and fourth innings, Union helped put an early end to the afternoon with a three-spot in the sixth, with a two-run single by Gibbons pushing the visitors over the eight-run margin.
 
First-year Amelia Brancazio was the beneficiary of the offense, allowing six hits and two runs (one earned) over six innings to earn the first win of her collegiate career.
 
Union will be back in action tomorrow with two games at the University of Scranton beginning at noon.