CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senior Brooke Sanford tripled and hit her first-career home run in game one, freshman Grace Valchar homered and drove in four runs in game two, and the Queens University of Charlotte softball team (22-12; 10-8 SAC) picked up two critical conference victories on Wednesday against Coker College (28-16; 7-9 SAC) at Park Road Park. The two league wins propel Queens to third place in the South Atlantic Conference standings after opening the day in seventh place. 
 
Game One: Queens 6, Coker 1 
 
Sanford went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two extra-base hits, Courtney Pearson (14-4) went five strong innings to earn her 14th win of the season, and the Royals took down the Cobras, 6-1, in Coker's third consecutive road doubleheader. 
 
Receiving the start in center field, the fourth-year senior recorded the best game of her career in her second-to-last home doubleheader. After tripling down the left-field line in the second inning, scoring Adriana Wilson and putting Queens up 1-0, she stepped back up to the plate in the fifth inning and launched a two-run shot down the right-field line to put the Royals ahead big, 6-0. 
 
McKenzie McCullen also homered, a solo shot in the third inning and her team-leading eighth of the season. She also leads the team in RBIs with 26, and once again eclipsed to .400 batting average mark at .406. 
 
In the circle, Pearson's win came on five hits, zero earned runs and one walk while striking out five. 
 
Game Two: Queens 9, Coker 5
 
Behind two big innings at the plate, and stellar pitching from Shannon McGuire (7-6), the Royals capped off their doubleheader sweep with a 9-5 win in game two. 
 
Valchar led off the scoring in the first inning with a three-run home run to right-center field, a no-doubter. Both teams remained scoreless into the fourth, when Coker struck for two runs to make it a one-run game. However, the Royals quickly opened up a lead once again, striking for five runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Kelly Winter hit a bunt single that scored Gerlea Patton, Sara Ingoldsby hit a two-run triple to right field, and then Sanford's bat remained hot, singling home Ingoldsby with a liner to center field. 
 
Ingoldsby finished the day with four combined hits with two in each game. She also had three RBIs. Meanwhile, Sydney Ditto's move to the top of the batting order helped her break out of a recent slump as the senior finished with a combined four hits and one RBI on the day, which came on a double in game one. 
 
McGuire, who recorded all but one out in the circle, finished her 6.2 innings allowing seven hits, four earned runs and two walks, while striking out three.