CLERMONT, Fla. -- The Lawrence University softball team jumped out to a big early lead Saturday against Union (N.Y.) College but had to hang on for a 7-6 nonconference victory.
    The win completed Lawrence's spring break trip, and the Vikings posted a 4-6 mark against some tough competition.
    Zoe Doherty went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and a run scored from her position atop Lawrence's lineup. Pitcher Avery Chilson went 2-for-2 with a triple and scored a run for the Vikings. Chilson went 5.2 innings and allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out seven and walking five. She picked up the win, and Xiomara Rueda-Marshall pitched the final 1.1 innings to get the save.
    Lawrence (6-10) scored seven times in the first three innings and got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the first. The only hit in the inning was Doherty's lead-off single, but the Vikings took advantage of three Union errors to grab a 2-0 edge.
    The Vikings struck for three more runs in the second, and the Vikings got a pair of walks to get the inning started. Doherty's sacrifice fly scored pinch-runner Laney Martens for a 3-0 lead. Mattigan Haller's single scored Adrie Villa, and Kourtney Mercer's single scored Haller for a 5-0 advantage.
    Lawrence tacked on two more runs in the third to extend the lead to seven. Gillian Guerriero started the inning with a single, and Chilson later picked up a single. Villa's single scored Guerriero, and Doherty followed with a single to score Chilson for a 7-0 lead.
    Chilson was cruising along before running into trouble in the sixth. Union (0-3) struck for four runs in the frame and had two on with two outs when Rueda-Marshall came on in relief. She got a flyout to end the inning and worked a perfect seventh to close out the game and pick up her first save of the season.
    Lawrence returns to action on April 1 when the Vikings host Marian University.