LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Santa Clara University softball team scored five runs in the first inning and got an efficient complete-game pitching performance from true freshman Briana Rios to win its Pacific Coast Softball Conference (PCSC) opener over LMU 6-2 Saturday morning.

Briana Knight and Jordan Newell hit first-inning homers off LMU's Molly Medeiros (14-6) – the reigning PCSC Pitcher of the Year – chasing the Presentation High School product after Newell's two-run drive down the left field line made it 5-0 Broncos.

LMU rebounded to pick up the win in Game Two, 11-3 in five innings.

The Game One victory was especially sweet for a Santa Clara (6-26; 1-1 PCSC) team that had lost a series of close games over the past two weeks. Rios went all seven innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits to improve her season record to 3-7.

Jamie Wallis went 3 for 3 in Game One, hitting a solo homerun of her own in the fourth to complement the big tone-setting homeruns from Knight and Newell early on.

LMU (23-12; 1-1 PCSC) was picked to win the PCSC by the league's coaches. Medeiros (14-6) has highlighted a staff that brought in a collective ERA of 3.00. SCU's offense touched up Medeiros and reliever Dana Waldusky for 10 hits in the opener.

Knight hit her second homerun of the day in the second inning of Game Two to give Santa Clara a 1-0 lead, but LMU rallied to score twice in the bottom of the second, then put up a 9-spot in the third to assure themselves of a split.