GALESBURG, Ill. -- The Lawrence University softball team got the Midwest Conference season off to a strong start Sunday with a doubleheader sweep at Knox College.
    Lawrence won the opener 6-4 and took the nightcap 10-1 in six innings.
    In the first game, Gillian Guerriero went 3-for-4 with a double, scored twice and drove in a run for the Vikings (7-13, 2-0 MWC). Janessa Gonzalez went 3-for-3 with a double and drove in a run for Lawrence.
    Zoe Doherty, Taylor Hughes, Mattigan Haller and Jordan Wallin-Swanson all went 2-for-4 as the Vikings notched 14 hits in the opener.
    Avery Chilson went the distance to pick up the victory. She allowed no earned runs on five hits, struck out five and walked two over seven innings.
    Lawrence trailed 2-0 after the opening inning, but the Vikings got a run back in the second on Gonzalez's run-scoring double. 
    The Vikings then took the lead with three runs in the fifth. Gonzalez started the inning with a double, and Doherty delivered a run-scoring single to tie the game at 2-2. Hughes and Haller followed with singles, and an error allowed Hughes to score. Wallin-Swanson then smacked a run-scoring single to plate Haller, and the Vikings led 4-2.
    Lawrence added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh, including one on Guerriero's RBI double in the last inning.
    In the second game, Georgia Sedlack tossed a two-hitter for the Vikings. She allowed just one run over six innings with nine strikeouts and one walk. 
    The Vikings led 1-0 after Guerriero drew a bases-loaded walk in the third. Knox (0-23, 0-4) got its only two hits of the game in the fourth inning to score a run and tie the game at 1-1.
    Lawrence pulled away in the fifth and sealed the victory in the sixth inning.
    In the fifth, the Vikings scored three times on two hits with the big blow coming on Guerriero's two-run double for a 4-1 lead. 
    The Vikings then scored six times in the sixth on five hits. Haller blasted a two-run homer to give the Vikings a 7-1 lead, and Guerriero added a two-run triple later in the inning for a 9-1 advantage.
    Guerriero went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and five RBIs. Wallin-Swanson went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI.
    Lawrence stays on the road as it will face Illinois College in a doubleheader on Monday.