Georgia Southern 9, Florida A&M 1 (5 inn.)
Georgia Southern 11, Florida A&M 1 (5 inn.)
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Georgia Southern sophomore Nina Iduate (Norcross, Ga.) totaled five hits and sophomore Jenny Side (Loganville, Ga.) tied the school’s single-season home run mark in a softball sweep of Florida A&M Wednesday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The 9-1 and 11-1 wins (both five innings) are GSU’s third straight and improve their mark to 25-22 on the season. FAMU drops to 10-32.
“I always have a little bit of anxiety going in to non-conference games just because I feel like if we don’t come out ready to play we could have easily dropped two games, especially to a team that is aggressive and played some ranked teams close,” said Eagles head coach Natalie Poole. “I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen but I felt like if we came out and played well, we could do well.”
The Eagles recorded 20 runs on 19 hits and had their best output in back-to-back games since the first two outings of the season.
“I thought that (the offense) was really good,” said Poole. “As long as we’re keeping the ball down and working the middle then we’re giving ourselves opportunities, and I think we did that. We gave ourselves opportunities to score and made them make the plays with the ball down so I was definitely happy about that.”
Iduate had five hits and reached base six times. She has a five-game hitting streak and is batting .667 over that stretch.
“She’s just steady,” said Poole about Iduate. “She’s seeing the ball really well right now, doesn’t get flustered if she gets down in the count and does a good job of keeping her hands up and challenging the middle.”
Side went 3-for-3 in game one with two runs and five RBI. She hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to tie Crystal Crews for first place at GSU in single-season home runs with 10.
Eight Georgia Southern starters recorded at least one hit in the nightcap as the Eagles chased the FAMU starter in the first inning before recording an out. Six batters crossed the plate in the opening frame and four more came across in the third.
Senior Melissa Laliberte (Cobourg, Ontario, Canada) allowed four hits and one run in game one to earn the win (12-7) while freshman Megen Smith (Springfield, Ga.) matched her in the second game, also giving up four hits and a run (9-7).
GSU returns to conference action this weekend with a three-game set at UNC Greensboro.
Appalachian State 4, East Tennessee State 3
East Tennessee State 2, Appalachian State 0
Boone, N.C. ? Appalachian State softball snapped a four game losing streak on Wednesday afternoon against East Tennessee State. The Mountaineers split the midweek doubleheader with the Lady Bucs, taking the opener 4-3 before falling 2-0 in the finale. Appalachian notches their fifth win of the season to improve to 5-23 on the season while ETSU falls to 20-26.
Freshman Katie Boyd (Walkertown, N.C.) put the Mountaineers on top in the third inning with her seventh home run of the season. The bomb was her fourth of the season, tying her for the single season school record with Keri Blackwelder. Boyd had a strong game, hitting 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI and a stolen base.
The Lady Bucs tied the game up in the fifth before ASU posted three more runs in the fifth. Junior Andrea McIntyre (Christiansburg, Va.) scored first in the frame off a hard double by Boyd. Junior Brittany Gaston (Roswell, Ga.) pushed Boyd across to extend the lead to 3-1 with a single. Junior Stephanie Long (Durham, N.C.) plated Gaston later in the inning for ASU’s final run of the frame.
ETSU scored two in the final inning, but Appalachian was able to hold on to score the win. Junior Yancy Moose earned the win to improve to 2-8 on the season. She scattered five hits and allowed three runs. Moose walked only one batter and struck out five.
In the second game, ETSU’s starter handcuffed the Mountaineers. The Lady Bucs dominated the Apps for a three hit shutout.
Junior Ashley Gaston (Roswell, Ga.) notched ASU’s first hit of the game in the fifth inning with a double off the centerfield wall. She was followed by freshman Morgan Price (Kannapolis, N.C.) who accounted for the second Mountaineer hit. Boyd scored the other Appalachian hit by way of a single in the sixth inning.
Junior Kayla Richardson suffered the loss, falling to 3-11 on the season allowing only two runs. ETSU had 11 hits in the game but left 12 runners on base. Richardson fanned four batters and walked two in the game.
Appalachian returns to action this Saturday on the road at Furman. The three game set starts Saturday at 1 p.m.
Tennessee 11, Western Carolina 0 (5 inn.)
Tennessee 11, Western Carolina 3 (5 inn.)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Western Carolina softball dropped a pair of games at No. 11 Tennessee Wednesday at Lee Stadium 11-0, 11-3. The Catamounts fall to 8-28 on the season while the Lady Vols improve to 40-7.
After being held scoreless in the first game of the doubleheader, Western Carolina scored early in the opening frame of the second game. Senior Jamie Swank reached first off a Tennessee error and was out at second when Casey Camp hit into a fielder's choice. Freshman Amber Hawkins singled through the left side and then she and Camp advanced to second and third off a wild pitch by Ashton Ward. Camp scored off the second wild pitch of the inning by Ward for the first Catamount run of the inning. After Beth Hauser drew a walk, junior Stephanie Beatty hit a frozen rope to down the left field line for a two RBI double.
Tennessee quickly answered in its half of the first inning with two runs to pull within one run. After holding the Lady Vols scoreless in the second inning, UT took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Tennessee added three runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to end the game after five.
Michelle Tating takes the loss for the Catamounts and falls to 4-6 on the season.
Tennessee exploded for 11 runs in the first two innings to force a shortened five-inning first game. The Lady Vols scored three runs in the first inning and eight in the second.
Both of Western Carolina's hits came in the fourth inning. Swank led off the inning reaching first off a Lady Vol miscue and then Hawkins got the first Catamount hit of the game, a single past the shortstop. Beatty hit a single to centerfield and Swank tried to go home but was thrown out at the plate.
Lauren Ross started the game on the mound and lasted 1.1 innings before she was replaced by junior Tating. Ross allowed 10 runs on six hits and struck out three, falling to 3-14 on the season. Tating tossed 2.2 innings of relief allowing one run on two hits and struck out two.
Western Carolina returns home for the first time in 20 days to host College of Charleston this weekend. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Catamount Softball Complex. The single game is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.