MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner opened the season in explosive fashion this afternoon with a pair of convincing wins in the first annual Faulkner-AUM Invitational here at Wynn Field. The home team kicked things off with a 14-3 pummeling of No. 3 Reinhardt University before securing a 5-0 shoutout of Montreal College to close out the day.

The Faulkner offense was firing on all cylinders in opener logging 14 runs on 12 hits.

Holli Brooks got things going in the first inning when she dropped a 3-RBI single into shallow center field.

The Lady Eagles then blew the door of the hinges the following inning with an impressive hitting steak. Hannahlee Harris offered up an RBI double and RBI single respectively on her two trips to the plate and scored twice herself. Emily Byrd added a 2-RBI single while Kendra Orozco, Amanda Seales and Abbie Pierce each drove in a run with a single.

Faulkner then extended its lead to 14-0 in the fourth inning.

The visitors did mustered three runs in their final at bat, but Lady Eagles managed to extinguish the spark before further damage could be done.

Mattie Dotson (1-0) gave up only two hits and walked just one batter while tallying eight strikeouts in four and a third innings of work from the circle.

Taylor Griffith allowed three hits and walked a pair of batters while anchoring the first two outs in the fifth.

Harris was 4-for-4 with three scored runs and an RBI in the opener and Byrd went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and runs. Brooks was 1-for-2 with four RBIs.

Hannah Qualls opened up scoring for Faulkner in the second inning against Montreat with an RBI single to right-center.

Jessica Butterworth drove in a run on a hard shot to left field in the fifth inning and Avery Mott knocked in a pair of runs with a triple in the sixth before scoring herself on a single to right courtesy of Qualls. 

Hayden Strickland (1-0) allowed just a single hit and had a strikeout in a complete seven innings in the night cap.

Qualls and Butterworth were each 2-for-3 and had two RBIs and drove in a run respectively. Mott was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs and a run.

Faulkner (2-0) will host Bryan College in the Invitational finale tomorrow at 4 p.m.