LONGVIEW, Texas - Prairie View A&M started its weekend off on the right foot as they defeated Jarvis Christian 7-3 in a non-conference softball affair on Thursday afternoon in Longview, Texas.

PVAMU finally broke through in the third inning as Peyton Simms led the inning off with a single and stole both second and third to move into scoring position.  Heidi Woodworth hit a one out sacrifice fly to score Simms for the game's first run.

The Lady Panthers added to their lead in the fourth as they scored a pair of runs off Simms' RBI and Destinee Williams' RBI single.  The lead increased to 7-0 in the sixth as Laura Martinez scored on a JCC throw error followed by a two-RBI single from Alisa Navarro and Jazmine Hicks' RBI single.

Starting pitcher Jessica Long's shutout came to an end in the sixth as Jarvis Christian scored three times but that would be the last time they would see the scoreboard as she logged a 1-2-3 seventh inning to record her first win of the year.

PVAMU recorded 11 hits with Simms and Kylar Ward-Flowers leading the way with two apiece.

The Lady Panthers will now head to Grambling, La. this weekend for an important SWAC series as they'll battle Grambling State.  The dates of the series have been changed to Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday as Saturday's game will begin at 2 p.m. followed by a 12 p.m. start on Sunday.