CARY, N.C. – After jumping up the rankings to No. 22 this week, the Queens University of Charlotte softball team continued its best start in over 20 years in dominant fashion on Friday scoring a two-game total of 29 runs en route to back-to-back victories on the first day of the Shaw Tournament at Thomas Brooks Park.
 
Queens beat Mansfield 8-4 in the day's first game before notching a blistering 21-0 shutout win over Bowie State in five innings.
 
The 21 runs scored in a single game are the most scored by Queens since it tallied 30 runs on Jan. 22, 1998, over 20 years ago.
 
Improving its record to 20-3 on the season, the Royals have now won five in a row and 13 of their last 14. The only loss in that stretch came by one run against another top-25 team at the time, North Greenville.
 
Queens' bats exploded for 21 runs on 16 hits against Bowie State thanks in large part to a seven-run first inning and 11-run third. It's the most runs the Royals have scored in a single game this season, topping its previous high of 17. They entered the day averaging 6.90 runs per game, which was already tops in the South Atlantic Conference.
 
The Royals did so without hitting a single home run, but rather doubling seven times. Sydney Ditto and Kelly Winter both doubled twice, while Sara Ingoldsby, Madison Ackerman and Sabrina Martinez each recorded one.
 
Ackerman led the team with three RBIs. Ingoldsby, Ditto, and Martinez each batted in two.
 
Ali Celiberti (3-1) tossed the shutout, allowing only two hits and picking up her second complete game of the season.
 
After homering in consecutive games coming into the day, Jordan Hunt led the charge at the plate against Mansfield with a RBI double and RBI triple. Courtney Pearson (8-2) picked up the win in this game, allowing only six hits to go with eight strikeouts. 
 
Queens will wrap up the Shaw Tournament with three games slated for tomorrow, March 10. The Royals will play Elizabeth City State at 11:30 a.m., Virginia State at 2:00 p.m., and Lincoln at 4:30.