CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Faulkner softball opened its season on the road here Tuesday afternoon against perennial power Lee University. The Lady Flames sit just outside the Top 25 in the preseason coaches' poll and entered today's matchup armed with three wins. The home team fended off a late Faulkner rally in Game 1 to secure the 6-4 win. The Lady Eagles then battled into 2-2 tie in the fifth inning of the nightcap, but Lee managed eight unanswered runs in its final two at-bats and cruised to a 10-2 victory in six innings of play.

Faulkner trailed 2-0 entering the fifth inning of the opener, but an RBI single courtesy of Keri Hyde put the visitors on the board.

Lee followed with a slugging display that same inning however, and a pair of home runs, a double and a single generated four runs for the Lady Flames.

The Lady Eagles responded with heavy hitting of their own in the sixth. Haley Munroe sparked the action with a lead off double down the left field line. Heather Smith brought Munroe home with an RBI double and later scored on a Missy Duke single. Faulkner's surge culminated in the three-run sixth however, as it failed to continue the trend in its final trip to the plate.

Faulkner again battled out of a 2-0 deficit in fifth inning of Game 2 to tie the contest, but the fight was short-lived. The Lady Flames caught fire and posted eight runs in subsequent plate appearances to move to 5-0 on the year.

Duke started in the circle for Faulkner in Game 1 and gave up five earned runs on nine hits, while striking out six in the loss.

Mattie Dotson made her college debut in the second game for Faulkner and allowed 11 hits and nine earned runs, while putting away two at the plate in the loss.

Duke was 2-for-3 with an RBI in the opener and Hyde was 2-for-4 and drove in a run.

Smith was 3-for-7 on the afternoon with a pair of RBIs and Munroe logged two RBIs on the day.

Faulkner (0-2) will take on William Penn in Jackson, Miss., on Friday at 2 p.m.