SALISBURY, Md. – The No. 18 Salisbury University softball team ensured that it would host the weekend portion of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament, collecting a 12-0 five-inning win against Hood College on Tuesday.

Salisbury, the top seed in the CAC tournament, put up a run in the first and broke things open with four in the second. The Gulls (32-5) put the game away with five more in the third.

Senior pitcher Erika Brittingham drove in the Sea Gulls' first run in the bottom of the first inning with an infield single that scored junior Sarah Alpaugh for the only run Brittingham and sophomore reliever Kathryn Larson would need.

Brittingham worked four scoreless innings, striking out seven while allowing just three infield singles to earn her 17th win of the season. Larson worked a perfect fifth inning, striking out two of the three Hood (8-28) batters she faced.

Sophomore Harley Hill drove in junior Chelsea Brooks with a two-out single in the second inning and junior Michelle Gravdahl drove a line-drive home run out to left field, bringing three runs in for a 5-0 lead.

The first three batters to step to the plate in the bottom of the third reached with base hits as junior Hannah Mills singled and stole second before coming home on senior Casey Zaino's double. Junior Carly Read pushed two runs home with a triple to right-center field while Hill and Gravdahl also drove in runs during the five-hit inning.

Salisbury will host York (Pa.) College in a second-round game on Thursday, at 4 p.m., at the SU Softball Field. The Spartans are now facing elimination following a 5-3 loss to Frostburg State University on Tuesday. Salisbury will play host to the remainder of the double-elimination tournament on Saturday and Sunday.