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Favored Division I schools cruised to season-opening sweeps as the 2015 DODDS-Europe baseball and softball seasons opened with a soft three-site launch Saturday.

The schedule expands beyond Bitburg, Lakenheath and SHAPE next weekend, including a pair of anticipated divisional gatherings in Italy.

BaseballRamstein 18/10, Bitburg 2/0: Saturday at Bitburg, the reigning Division I champions got off to a dominant start.

Jon Oswald struck out seven Barons in the first game and Zach Buhrer struck out six in the late game to stall Bitburg's offense. That was plenty for the Ramstein order; Woody Woodruff drove in four RBIs in game one, Woller Spencer drove in a pair in game two and Ben Ciero combined for five RBI on the doubleheader to lead the assault.

Ramstein hosts archrival Kaiserslautern on March 28.

Kaiserslautern 18/7, SHAPE 2/2: Saturday at Mons, Belgium, the Raiders opened their season with a tidy sweep of the Spartans.

Carlos Muniz struck out six across three innings and JaMarkus Myles went 4-for-4 to lead Kaiserslautern in the early game.

Kilian Knight went 3-for-4 and Muniz went 2-for-3 to fuel the second-game win.

Anthony Dellorso combined for three hits across the two games to lead the SHAPE offense.

Lakenheath 13/14, Alconbury 9/5: Saturday at Lakenheath, the Lancers held off the Dragons for a pair of wins.

Alconbury unleashed six fourth-inning runs in an ill-fated attempt to steal game one. Lakenheath put game two away early with eight first-inning runs.

Hunter Novotny and Matt Brinker picked up the pitching wins for Lakenheath, while Braydun Burke had four combined hits on the doubleheader.

SoftballLakenheath 10/11, Alconbury 0/7: Saturday at Lakenheath, Lancer starting pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts in the doubleheader sweep.

Khloe Miller struck out eight Dragons in six innings in the opener and Shannon Cox struck out 13 in six innings in the nightcap for Lakenheath.

Lancer teammate Jade Julien filled a starring role at the plate, meanwhile, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored in game one and 4-for-4 with four runs scored in game two.

Alconbury pitcher Becky Mathews turned in a solid 13 innings on the mound, combining for 20 strikeouts on the day.

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