PEMBROKE-With second place in the Southeastern Conference on the line on senior night at Purnell Swett, the Scotland softball team came through with just enough offense in a 3-0 win.

The Fighting Scots’ Cori Newton notched the victory for her team with the shutout, giving up just five hits and one walk while striking out three. Swett got a solid performance from its own starter Josey Oxendine, who gave up only four hits and allowed one walk in the loss.

With the win, Scotland (16-3, 7-2) stays one game behind Richmond for first place, while the Rams fall to third place at 6-3 heading into the final game of the regular season.

“This was a big game for us tonight because both of us had the same amount of wins,” said Scotland coach Patrick Williams. “It’s good to face a pitcher like Oxendine so we can get a taste of what playoff pitching is going to be like.”

Newton only allowed more than one base runner in one inning, a crucial third inning where a two out walk to Oxendine loaded the bases. Newton then got Mo Dial to fly out to center to end the threat.

“That was extremely big,” Williams said, “and it was even bigger that Oxendine wasn’t at the plate because she is dangerous with runners in scoring position.”

Scotland built on that momentum in the top of the fourth when Sarah Leviner pushed across Shae Barnes on an RBI groundout.

Leviner would pick up another RBI on the first of two insurance runs in the sixth when she hit a grounder to shortstop Brianna Chavis who could not get her throw home in time to get Barnes. Shakela McRae ran for Leviner and scored one batter later when Oxendine threw wild to third base attempting to get McRae out.

Those two plays were examples of what Swett coach James Graves felt was a lack of execution in key moments by his team.

“We made a couple miscues when they had runners on base,” he said. “A couple of times we didn’t make plays because we weren’t sure what to do with it.”

Both teams play their regular season finale on Thursday, with the Rams (14-7) going to Richmond and Scotland hosting its own senior night against Pinecrest.

Thursday night, the Scots will also be hosting “Strike out Cancer” as part of the Pink Zone to promote breast cancer awareness.