Georgia Southern 4, Presbyterian 3; Georgia Southern 9, Presbyterian 4
CLINTON, S.C. - The Georgia Southern softball team (13-12, 4-2) swept Presbyterian Tuesday, pulling their record above .500 for the first time since February 22nd.
Brianna Streetmon (Winder, Ga.) pitched a combined eight innings in the doubleheader. She shut out the Blue Hose and allowed only two hits.
Michelle Beasley (Metter, Ga.) continued her coming-out party, going four for six with two RBIs. She picked up two doubles and a homer in the doubleheader.
Game One
Georgia Southern scored in the first four innings but had to hold on to win 4-3 over Presbyterian Tuesday afternoon.
Eight of the nine starters picked up base hits. Amanda Glover (Evans, Ga.) and Hanna Ennis (Snellville, Ga.) added doubles while Beasley hit her first home run of the season.
Streetmon got the starting nod and was impressive, allowing only one hit. She held Presbyterian scoreless in three innings of work.
The Eagles struck first scoring a run in the first inning. Ennis led off with a double to left and came around to score on Robyne Siliga's (Oceanside, Calif.) seeing-eye single.
Beasley added another run in the second with a two-out solo shot; her first of the season.
Georgia Southern manufactured a run without a hit in the third. Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) reached on an error by the shortstop and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Amanda Hall (Haddock, Ga.) brought her home on a grounder to short, giving Georgia Southern a three-run lead.
The Eagles used back-to-back hits in the fourth to score their fourth straight run. Amanda Glover doubled to left with one out, and Jenny Side (Loganville, Ga.) drove her home with a RBI base hit.
Presbyterian finally broke through in the sixth with a two-run homer by Taylor Staten. Kayla Handy led off the inning with a base hit up the middle setting up the big inning. Back-to-back hits by Leslie Hensley and Brittany Howell scored another run on a throwing error by the shortstop.
Game Two
Georgia Southern rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat the Blue Hose 9-4.
The Eagles batted around in the fourth inning and took the lead scoring six runs on four hits.
Fogle led off the inning and reached second on an errant throw that sailed into the dugout. Siliga drove her in with a RBI single to right. Hall drove a ball to the wall in left that the outfielder dropped, allowing her to reach second. Sam Russo (Snellville, Ga.) plated both runners with a two-RBI double to left. Beasley kept the rally going with a two-out RBI double. Mackenzie Williams (Baxley, Ga.) added a two-run homer for her first hit of the game.
Georgia Southern also set a new season high with five doubles in game two.
The Eagles scored in four straight innings, adding six runs in the fourth and solo runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
Presbyterian carried their hot hitting from the end of game one over to game two, scoring single runs in the first two innings. Staten hit her second and third home runs of the day in game two.
She hit her first homer of game two with two outs in the first, giving the Blue Hose an early lead.
Brittany Howell led off the second inning with a base hit. She scored a two-out run on a dropped throw at the plate.
Staten drove in two more runs with her second home run of the game.
Three straight hits to lead off the fifth, including Hall's RBI double, improved Georgia Southern's lead to three runs.
Streetmon stranded runners on first and second in the bottom half of the fifth, striking out the side to end the threat.
The Eagles scored for the third straight inning in the sixth, adding a single run. Amanda Glover and Beasley led off the inning with back-to-back hits before Williams plated Glover from third on a sacrifice fly.
Hillary Martin (Cumming, Ga.) drove in another run in the seventh with a RBI double down the first base line.
Softball continues its seven game road swing this weekend in Cullowhee, N.C. First pitch in Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Furman 4, Towson 1; Furman 10, Towson 2
Greenville, S.C. -- Lana Mackey blasted a three-run walk-off home run in game one and Stephanie Cushing delivered a three-run shot to trigger the eight-run mercy rule in game two as Furman swept Towson 4-1, 10-2 in a non-conference softball doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
The Paladins, winners of four straight, improved to 8-13 on the season while the Tigers slipped to 8-7.
With runners on second and third and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of game one, Mackey lofted a towering shot down the left field line that landed in the bushes beyond the left field fence for her first home run of the season to give Furman a 4-1 victory. Mackey’s game-winning heroics came after she left a runner, placed on base according to the international tiebreaker rule, stranded by striking out the side in the top half of the eighth inning.
Cushing was placed on second to start the bottom of the eighth and Morgan Hughey, who was 3-for-3 at the plate, was intentionally walked to start the frame. Brythe Blankenship executed a sacrifice bunt before Mackey’s blast ended the game.
Furman took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Stephanie Field reached on an error to lead off the game at scored on Hughey’s two-out, RBI single up the middle. Mackey held the Tigers to just a lone hit before Stefanie Streets belted a solo homer to right-center to knot the game at 1-1 with two outs in the top of the seventh.
Mackey (4-6) allowed only two hits and one run in eight innings of work to pick up her fourth victory of the season. The junior fanned nine batters and issued just two walks. Mackey and Field each collected two hits in the victory.
Shannon Johnston (4-3) suffered the loss for Towson allowing two earned runs on eight hits in 7.1 innings of work. She walked just one batter and struck out three.
In game two, Furman exploded for 12 hits and plated seven runs in the fifth inning on its way to a 10-2 triumph over the Tigers.
After Towson took a 1-0 lead on Emily Gould’s RBI single in the top of the second, the Paladins plated three in the bottom half of the inning.
Mackey reached on a one-out single and Jessie Homesley reached on an error to give Furman runners and second and third. Meredith Mielke and Katie Michaels followed with back-to-back RBI singles and Field plated Mielke with a groundout to give Furman a 3-1 lead.
The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth and Erika Stasch drew a bases loaded walk from Paladin reliever Stephanie Mihaly to force in a run and trim the margin to 3-2. Freshman Hannah Bradley came on to record the final out of the frame and scattered two hits in 2.1 innings of relief.
Hughey opened the bottom of the fifth with a double to center field and advanced to third on Blankenship’s infield single. With one-out, Homesley placed a perfect squeeze bunt down the third base line for a single to score Hughey. Mielke singled to load the bases and, after Michaels fouled out to the shortstop, Field laced a two-run double that the left fielder could not handle to up the Furman lead to 6-2. Relief pitcher Britney Croner uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Mielke to score and walked Abby Robertson before Cushing hammered a three-run homer to right field to invoke the mercy rule.
Cushing, Homesley and Mielke each collected a pair of hits for the Paladins while Cushing and Field each drove in three runs. Mihaly (3-2) earned the victory despite giving up a run on four hits in 1.1 innings of work. Bradley secured her second save of the season.
Starter Dominique Ortega (2-2) took the loss for Towson. She allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings.
Furman continues non-conference play Wednesday afternoon when it travels to Spartanburg, S.C., to face USC Upstate in a doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
Georgia Tech 10, Western Carolina 1; Georgia Tech 8, Western Carolina 1
Atlanta, Ga. - Western Carolina (5-14) dropped game one 10-1, and game two 8-0 in a doubleheader against Georgia Tech (17-6) Tuesday afternoon held at the new Shirley Clements Mewborn Field on the Georgia Tech Campus.
Georgia Tech broke game one of the doubleheader open using a nine-run bottom of the fourth inning to defeat the Catamounts 10-1 in game one of the doubleheader against the Yellow Jackets. Catamounts dropped the second game of the doubleheader 8-0 as the Yellow Jackets used 12 hits to beat Western Carolina.
Western Carolina now sits at 5-14 heading into a conference battle with Georgia Southern this weekend. The Catamounts left 12 runners in scoring position in the doubleheader series against the Yellow Jackets.
In the second game of the doubleheader senior Mollie Fowler finished with two hits along with sophomore Amber Hawkins who also went 2-for-2 including a double, her third of the season.
Freshman Katie King started for the Catamounts taking the loss, her fourth of the season.
Georgia Tech pitcher Jessica Cohen earned her third win of the season and struck out eight Catamounts in the process.
The Yellow Jackets built a 4-0 lead after four innings of play when Georgia Tech added four more runs to make the final score 8-0 in game two.
In the first game the Catamounts were led by freshman Chelsea Schaffer (2-for-3) and senior Lauren Ross (2-for-2) who each had two hits in the losing effort.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets broke open a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning plating nine runs to win game one of the doubleheader against the Catamounts 10-1. A two-out three-run double to right center from pinch hitter Danielle Dike hurt the Catamounts who managed to bust out eight hits against ACC member Georgia Tech.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets started the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when with one out Whitney Haller reached on an error. Yellow Jackets’ shortstop Kelsi Weseman was hit by a pitch to set up runners at first and second. Georgia Tech catcher Kate Kuzma then reached on another Catamount error, scoring pinch-runner Shannon Bear to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead. Catamounts starter Lauren Ross got a strike-out and a ground out to third base to end the threat.
Western Carolina answered in the top of the third getting a lead-off single from freshman shortstop Chelsea Schaffer. Junior catcher Danielle Reese moved Schaffer over to second on a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher. Sophomore Amber Hawkins beat out an infield single to set up runners at first and third with one out. Senior Stephanie Beatty delivered with a one-out RBI single to right center to tie the score at 1-1. The Catamounts had an opportunity to take the lead but the score was held at 1-1 through two innings of play.
The Catamounts return to action this weekend in Cullowhee, N.C., to start a three-game series against the Georgia Southern Eagles in a Southern Conference match-up beginning on Saturday March 21 with game one of the doubleheader at 1 p.m.