GREENVILLE, S.C. - Megen Smith belted a two-run home run, her second long ball of the series, to lead Georgia Southern past Furman, 3-2, in the regular season finale for both teams on Monday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
The defeat closed the door on Furman's chances of reaching the Southern Conference Tournament as the Paladins (24-23, 12-11 SoCon) lost out to UNC Greensboro in a fourth place tiebreaker because the Spartans took two of three games at Pepsi Stadium in the regular season series between the teams. Georgia Southern (29-24, 14-9) earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament which begins on Thursday in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Smith put Georgia Southern into a quick lead in the opening frame. Nina Iduate singled to start the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt ahead of Smith's two-run blast to deep left-center field. The homer marked the 16th round tripper of the season for Smith who was walked in her final three at bats.
Furman trimmed the lead to one run in the bottom of the frame. Stephanie Field led off with a single to left, stole second and scored on Lana Mackey's two-out RBI double to right-center.
The Eagles scratched out the eventual winning run in the top of the fifth. After GSU loaded the bases with nobody out, Mackey struck out Jenny Side and got Sam Russo to bounce into a fielder's choice, but her 3-2 pitch to Tabby Douberly with the bases loaded missed allowing Marie Fogle to score from third.
Furman loaded the bases on a hit batter and singles from Mackey and Brythe Blankenship with no one out in the sixth. Morgan Hughey's infield single plated Jessie Homesley, but GSU starter Brianna Streetmon (19-10) got Alex Bimonte to hit into a fielder's choice, fanned Taylor Beam and retired Hannah Bradley to leave the bases loaded.
Streetmon surrendered just two runs on eight hits in a complete-game effort. She issued one walk and struck out six Paladins.
Iduate went 2-for-3 with a walk while Smith was 1-for-1 with two RBI and three walks. The top third of the Eagles batting order went 4-for-7 while scoring and driving in all three runs. Georgia Southern totaled just five hits and stranded 11 base runners.
Mackey (17-10) took the loss for Furman in the last game of her stellar career. The Perry, Ga., native allowed three runs on five hits and seven walks in the finale. She fanned three batters to finish her four-year career as Furman's all-time leader and third in SoCon history with 767 strikeouts.
The senior went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI to pace Furman at the plate. Katie Michaels also collected two hits.