Playing at one of the best early-season tournaments in all of softball, No. 17 Berry earned a pair of wins at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga., Friday, first knocking off East Texas Baptist 9-3, then handing No. 8 Salisbury its first loss of the season, 7-4.

Game One: Berry 9, East Texas Baptist 3
A three-run first put the Vikings on the right track as Berry earned a 9-3 win over ETBU to start the day. Paige Bennett's two-run triple capped the scoring in the first to give Berry a lead it wouldn't give up.

Aleeya Thornton used her speed to make it 4-0 in the second, stealing third base and scoring on a throwing error. ETBU would trim the lead to one, 4-3, in the third, but the Vikings answered with another three-run inning in the fourth. Katie White's two-run sacrifice fly would push the lead up to 7-3 by the end of the inning.

Katie Parker would double home Abbey Gamble in the sixth, with Parker scoring on a ground out by Sydney Moroney one batter later to give the Vikings a six-run cushion.

Hannah Gore came on in relief and earned her fifth win of the season, allowing two hits and five strikeouts in 4.1 innings.

Game Two: Berry 7, Salisbury 4
A battle of two ranked teams went the way of the Vikings thanks to a five-run second inning.

Anna Jackson's solo homer in the first allowed BC to draw first blood. The Vikings would need just two hits to score five times in the second thanks to a cacophony of walks, hit batters, and errors. While Bennett started the inning with a double, the only other hit of the inning would be an RBI single by Riley Jackson. Moroney would have an RBI in the inning, in addition to Anna Jackson and Morgan Frye.

Salisbury (11-1) would rally to make it 6-4 after four innings, but White's RBI single scored Moroney to make it 7-4. That would be enough for Danielle Sudick, who went the distance and earned the win in the circle for the Vikings, allowing four runs on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Vikings will be back at it Saturday in Columbus, facing Belhaven at 10 a.m. and Pomona-Pitzer at 12 p.m.