Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 BELLE FOURCHE, South Dakota — The Fort Lewis College softball team opened up RMAC play in fine fashion over the weekend as the team shook off weather delays, dark-shortened games and venue changes, which pushed the series from Spearfish to Belle Fourche, to take three out of four road games against Black Hills State University.

Fort Lewis (6-8 overall, 3-1 RMAC) took the series opener Saturday evening, grinding out a 5-4 victory in five innings before the game was called due to darkness. The Skyhawks then took two of three from the Yellow Jackets (2-9 overall, 1-3 RMAC) during Sunday's triple-header, winning Game Two (11-3) and Game Four (3-2), with the lone loss being a 6-1 defeat in Game Three.

"You obviously always want to come out and win games, but this weekend was a big confidence booster for us and the girls," said FLC head coach Ashley Reeves. "It's hard to take a four-game series and play three games in one day, but to take 2-of-3 is a great day for us. The girls did a really good job and I'm proud of them for battling."

Junior shortstop Julia Roberts led the way for the Skyhawks as she launched a pair of home runs, her first two of the 2020 season and fourth and fifth long balls of her career, and drove in a game-high 3 RBI.

It was only the start of what was a breakout weekend for Roberts, who entered the series 1-for-7 on the season, produced six hits over the weekend against the Yellow Jackets, including a 4-for-4 performance in Game Four.

"Julia came in earlier the week asking what she needs to do and work on and we made some adjustments to her swing to quiet it down," Reeves said. "She hit all weekend, so it was really great to see for her. She has a lot of good things going for her and I'm proud of her for the adjustments she made over the weekend."

On Sunday, the Skyhawks opened action with an 11-3 victory in Game Two as junior pitcher Emily Morris picked up her second win of the season in the circle with 3.1 scoreless innings, and freshman Sloan Shotton paced the offense with three extra-base hits.

Shotton finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run; her second long ball of the season. The former catcher turned super utility player for the Skyhawks got the start in right field and is beginning to carve out a spot in the heart of the FLC batting order.

"Sloan has done a great job. This series, she started playing right field and got her a spot because of how well she's hitting," Reeves said. "She's a great person to have follow (Brianna Leavell) in the lineup. It's harder for opponents to pitch around Bri then have to face Sloan from the left-side because she's able to drive in runs for us. They're a good combo to have in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots."

The lone hiccup on the weekend for the Skyhawks came in Game Three as BHSU was able to grab a 6-1 victory.

FLC bounced back in the series finale, though, as freshman Brianna Leavell pitched a complete game to help lead the Skyhawks to a 3-2 victory in a six-inning, dark-shortened Game Four.

It was the second win in the circle for Leavell on the weekend as she improved to 4-2 overall on the season.

"It started getting cold in that last game, so our plan with Bri was to jam hitters inside," Reeves said. "The colder it gets, nobody wants to hit an inside pitch. We were able to score early and Bri was able to shut them down from there. She won Game One and Game Four, so that's a great weekend for a freshman pitcher, and she hit really well all series too."

Fort Lewis will now return home, have a chance to practice outside and look to build off its series victory with another four-game set scheduled against Colorado School of Mines (8-8 overall, 5-2 RMAC) next weekend in Golden.

Game times are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, then 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. that Sunday.

"We're going to keep it light, work on our defense and continue to tune up some things," Reeves said. "At this point in the season, it's about fine-tuning things between series. It's the grind now, so we just need to work on getting better and head into this weekend focused on trying to win some more games."