DANVILLE, Ky. — The Wilmington College softball team dropped a pair of games to Centre Wednesday in their season opener at the Centre College Softball Field.

In the first game, Centre scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning, 2-1.

Senior Becca Carpenter, 0-1, (South Charleston, OH/Southeastern) allowed six hits in seven innings of work with two runs (one earned). She finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts and two walks.

“I was very pleased with how Becca pitched, and how we played. It was Centre’s 11th game of the season and our first game of the year. We had a few things we needed to clean up to win a close, low scoring game,” said WC coach Beth Floyd.

Junior Savannah Hooper (Leesburg, OH/Wilmington) scored the only run of the game for WC in the third inning.

Freshman Grace Yoder (Springboro, OH/Springboro) was 2-for-4 on the game to lead the Fightin’ Quakers.

Centre won the second game 11-3 in six innings.

Freshman Mariyah Burkhardt (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) was 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBI in her first career start. She doubled home a run in the first and fifth innings.

Hooper was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.

Junior Beth Persicano, 0-1, (Nashville, TN/Cincinnati Turpin) allowed five earned runs on seven hits in three innings of action. She added two strikeouts and a walk.

“There were some bright spots (in the second game),” said Floyd. “We hit the ball better and had some better approaches at the plate. But, you simply can’t allow 16 hits and put that much pressure on yourself. Overall, the experience of the day was great for a lot of our younger players and even our veterans.”

Wilmington (0-2) travels to the Gene Cusic Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. for eight games in five days, starting Sunday. The Fightin’ Quakers will play Brockport 11 a.m. Sunday and UMass-Dartmouth 1 p.m, Sunday.