GALVESTON, Texas – Through five games at the Galveston College Invitational, the Blinn softball team swept through four games and defeated two top-20 teams in the nation. 
After sweeping opening day on Friday, including a win over 13th-ranked Navarro, the Buccaneers defeated 15th-ranked McLennan Community College 10-6 before seeing its four-game winning streaked snapped in a 7-3 loss to Temple College.
Blinn (3-1) is unranked in the NJCAA preseason poll.
That didn't deter the Bucs Friday or Saturday.
Blinn spread out 10 runs over six innings in its win over McLennan. Carla Noel went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, and Peyton Webb had a 2-for-4, three-RBI performance.
Freshman pitcher Mariah Gibson picked up her second win of the season.
Blinn's offense responded to the pressure put on by McLennan all game. When McLennan cut the Bucs' lead to 6-5 in the top of the third, Blinn scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to pull away. After McLennan scored a run in the fifth, Blinn responded with a run in the sixth.
Freshman Jaiden Rawls, who was lights out in her collegiate debut Friday—Rawls threw two shutouts and hit three home runs—shut out McLennan in the seventh to secure the victory.
Temple bested the Bucs in the later game. Much like how Blinn spread out its scoring against McLennan, Temple scored a run in all but two innings to snap Blinn's early-season winning streak.
Offensively, Rawls drove in two runs in the Bucs' two-run fifth, and Avery Mullendore had an RBI in the seventh. Blinn had eight hits and drew six walks in the game.
