The UNC Wilmington softball team opened up its conference season Saturday afternoon at Boseman Field in a doubleheader against James Madison.

The Bulldogs came into the doubleheader ranked first in the CAA and improved their record to 20-9. This season, JMU hopes to make an appearance in its fifth straight conference championship.

Having almost the opposite season, the Seahawks have struggled this year and being outscored 11-0 in Saturday’s losses, their record fell to 7-23 overall and 0-2 in the CAA.

Despite holding the Bulldogs to three runs in the first game, the Seahawks could not keep the pressure on as they were defeated 8-0 in the second game.

UNCW coach Kathy Van Houten knew this would be a difficult two-game set for the Seahawks.

“Ultimately, they are a great team,” Van Houten said. “They always finish in the top two (in conference), but we wouldn’t want it any other way.”

After JMU scored two runs in the second, then added three more in the third, Van Houten replaced senior starter Samme Lisowsky for junior Amanda Davenport.

“We started to see the other team rip off some hits and get comfortable in the box, so we felt it was time to change it up and keep the batters off balance if we could,” Van Houten said.

Trailing 5-0, Davenport was faced with a tough job of trying to control the Bulldogs’ offense.

“I just wanted to hold them and get through as many innings as possible without letting them score,” Davenport said.

Unfortunately, even her fresh arm could not quell the big bats of the Bulldogs.

JMU shortstop Ashley Burnham, who leads the team in nearly all batting categories, blasted a homerun to begin the seventh inning that seemed to take the last bit of hope out of the Seahawks.

Struggling on both offense and defense in each of the two games, there is plenty of room for improvement.

“The defense was not very solid today,” Van Houten said. “We have to take care of the ball first and then going for the out is the big thing we are going to focus on and getting our pitcher some offense to back them up so they feel better in the circle.”

The Bulldogs were led by a dominating pitching performance from Cara Stecher who led the team in strikeouts with 47 coming into Saturday’s games. While in the circle, she held the Seahawks to only one hit.

UNCW will get a third shot at redemption against JMU as they face off again, Sunday, at noon.