MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello softball started team Great American Conference play with a pair of one-run wins over Southern Nazarene on Friday in the team's first home games of the 2016 season.

The Blossoms (6-4, 2-0 GAC) started the double-header with a 3-2 win before sweeping the day with a 4-3 victory in game two.

Blossoms starter Kendra Coleman (3-2) allowed only two hits in the opener, while the UAM offense scored on a pair of homeruns, a two-out solo shot by senior Kali Piha in the third and a two-run blast from junior McKenzie Rice in the fifth.

SNU's lone run came on a solo homerun from Sam Smith in the bottom of the fourth to give the Crimson Storm (5-5, 0-2 GAC) a 2-1 lead. Rice's homer in the fifth put UAM back on top and finalized the scoring.

Coleman had four strikeouts and only one walk in the complete-game victory.

In the second game, UAM senior starter Elizabeth Delafield (2-2) threw three perfect innings to start the contest and did not allow a hit until the fifth.

The Blossoms hit two more homeruns to account for all but one of the team's runs. Junior Korie Parker started the scoring with an RBI single in the first. UAM went up 4-0 in the fifth on a solo homerun from Rice and a two-run shot from freshman Kali Bolter.

SNU rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth, including a two-run homerun from Sydni Toilolo. Sophomore Alyson Finnigan came in out of the pen and ended the SNU threat. She retired the side in order in the top of the seventh to record her second save of the year.

Delafield earned the win, surrendering three runs (all unearned) off three hits with three strikeouts and one walk in the first 5.2 innings.

The series concludes on Saturday with a double header starting at noon.