Jaiden Rawls made quite the debut in her inaugural collegiate game. 
Rawls, a freshman from Beaumont, threw two complete games, struck out 10 batters and blasted three home runs offensively.
Rawls and the Buccaneers swept the opening day of the Galveston College Invitational with a 3-0 win over 13th ranked Navarro, a 5-2 win over Independence (Kan.) Community College and an 8-5 win over Seminole State.
"She had a heck of a day," Blinn (3-0) coach Rick Church said of Rawls. "She came up with some clutch hits, had a some really aggressive at-bats and pitched really well."
In Blinn's season opener against Navarro, Rawls tossed a four-hit shutout and used a steady mix of screwballs and riseballs to keep the Lady Bulldogs offense off-balance. She struck out two. Offensively she smacked a solo home run on the first pitch of the first at-bat at the college level.
She later bested that performance against Seminole.
Rawls, en route to her second win on the mound, hit two homers and drove in five runs in the Bucs' win. One of her home runs came with the Bucs trailing 2-0. Her three-run shot gave Blinn its first lead of the game.
"It's a day she's certainly going to remember," Church said.
Sophomore Sydney Wellmann, a Brenham High School product, joined the home run club and finished the day with two RBI.
Avery Mullendore had a double and three walks against Seminole, and Peyton Webb, Carla Noel and Taylor Guidry each had two hits.
"You always wonder if three games in a day is going to be too much or if you're going to have enough pitching, are you going to get tired with the elements," Church said. "But today it served us well. But like we told the girls after the last game, the lesson here is we have to go out and do it again tomorrow."
Blinn concludes the Galveston College Invitational Saturday with an 11 a.m. game against 15th-ranked McLennan Community College and a 3 p.m. game against Temple.
"We have to continue to play well and do this again. We don't want today to be a fluke; we want it to be our brand and how we define our season," Church said.
