RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's softball team earned a doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon to move to the .500 mark in Midwest Conference play. The Red Hawks won the first game 13-5 in five innings, before securing the sweep with a 7-3 victory in game two.

Ripon (5-19, 3-3 MWC) jumped on Knox (1-22, 0-10 MWC) early and often, scoring four runs in both the first and second inning of the first game. Brennah Bronk, Mikaela Lawrence, Abby Gilbertson, and Andrea Mihaljevich each drove in a run in the opening inning, while Bronk drove in two more in the second, followed by an RBI triple by Lawrence and a run-scoring double by Gilbertson.

Knox would make things interesting, scoring five runs in the top of the fifth, but Ripon matched them with five runs in the bottom of that frame to end the game in five innings. Lawrence recorded her second triple of the game in that inning, while Alli Martin drove in a run with a single to center and Anna Bauer ended the contest with a two-run single through the left side of the infield.

Ripon finished the game with 12 hits, with Lawrence and Gilbertson each going 3-for-3 with two RBI. Mihaljevich added two hits in the game. Savanna Trittlewitz struck out six batters in five innings of work in the circle.

In the day's second game, Ripon again jumped on the board early with a pair of RBI doubles by Bauer and Lawrence. Maddie Hablewitz added a RBI single in the second, before Knox got on the board with an RBI double in the top of the third. Ripon would get that run back in the bottom of that frame when Gilbertson drove in yet another run with a single up the middle. Knox would cut that lead to two with a run in the fifth, but Ripon matched that in the bottom of that inning on an RBI single by Lawrence. Hablewitz ad Bauer also drove in runs later in the game to cap the scoring.

The Red Hawks recorded 15 hits i the game, with Lawrence going 3-for-3 for the second consecutive contest. Gilbertson, Hablewitz, Bauer, Micaela Encarnacion, and Lexzie Hassemer each recorded two hits in the game. Bronk allowed just two earned runs on eight hits, while striking out three in seven innings of work.

Ripon will be in action again on Saturday when they'll face Illinois College in a doubleheader that will be played at Carthage College's field in Kenosha, Wis. That doubleheader will begin at 1:30 p.m., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.