GW softball fans came out to the Mount Vernon Campus with their lawn chairs in tow Sunday afternoon to enjoy the team’s doubleheader sweep of Rhode Island as well as free hamburgers and hotdogs outside the Mount Vernon Pub.

GW (16-12, 3-3 Atlantic 10) brought their record to .500 in conference play, bouncing back from dropping two games on Friday to Massachusetts, the defending league champion.

Sweeping the series provides GW with legitimacy, sophomore Caroline Howe said.

“We have a strong conference, so it is very important for us to sweep a team like URI to prove that GW is a going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Howe said.

The second game of the doubleheader was a shortened victory for the Colonials. The game was called on the mercy rule after the fifth inning, when GW reached an eight-run lead, ending the game at the score 11-3.

Senior Elena Meyers and sophomore Colleen Kegler each had three runs against the Rams in the game. Meyers also lead the Colonials in RBI with her four in the game. The fans got to see three homers in the game off hits by sophomores Jackie Yaniga, Howe and Meyers.

Sophomore co-captain Jen Hrycyna (3-3) pitched her third win in the abbreviated game.

URI jumped out to an early lead in the afternoon’s first game with a three-run first inning sparked by several walks, wild pitches and a Shelby Dorothy single that got her two RBI.

In the second inning, sophomore Katie Miller ran in the Colonials first score on junior Kaity Harbour’s single to center field. Sophomore Hilary King was able to advance to second base and then third base during the play. King scored shortly thereafter on Meyers’ single.

GW held URI scoreless in the third inning as they had in the second, with the Rams putting only three batters to the plate in each. On offense, the Colonials put up three more runs by sophomores Chrysanthi Halkiotis, Yaniga and Howe.

Neither team scored in the fourth inning before URI’s run in the fifth inning was the game’s last. GW won 5-4, out hitting the Rams 11-7. Five different Colonials had runs in the game and six different players shared the teams’ 11 hits.

Miller pitched four innings and sophomore Gabby Culp registered the save after pitching for the last three innings and allowing one hit on three runs.

The Colonials return to action Wednesday when they host James Madison in another doubleheader on the Mount Vernon Campus at 2 p.m.