Samford 9, Western Carolina 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Samford softball team grabbed its first Southern Conference series sweep of the season Sunday in a 9-1 victory in six innings over the Western Carolina Catamounts. It is also the Bulldogs' first-ever sweep in the two years that Samford has been in the league. The Bulldogs improve to 17-30 overall and 8-13 in SoCon play while the Catamounts fall to 10-40 overall and 2-18 in league play.
"I am very proud of these girls," Samford head coach Beanie Ketcham said. "We put together three solid games. We had timely hitting, solid pitching and well executed defense. We had several players who had big weekends at the plate for us and that was a big boost for us."
Samford scored first in the top of the first inning as Aaren Fisher and Amanda Barrs put together two singles to get in scoring position. Alex Adams then singled through the left side to drive home Fisher before Western Carolina could record the third out.
The Bulldogs put up two more runs in the second inning when Fisher doubled to bring in Reeves before Katie England singled to drive in Fisher. Then the Bulldogs took a 4-0 lead in the third when Amanda Jordan scored on a wild pitch but the next two innings would be scoreless for both teams.
Samford scored five in the top of sixth to take a 9-0 lead. The Bulldogs led off the inning with back-to-back bunt singles by Rachael Reeves and Amy Gonzalez to get in scoring position before Fisher singled through the left side to drive home Reeves. Katie England singled to bring in Gonzalez and then Barrs hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Fisher. With two outs and one runner on base, Alex Adams hit a two-run shot to left field with England on base and put the Bulldogs up, 9-0.
The Catamounts finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Haley Pace singled to center field with runners on first and second to drive in Danielle Reese. The run would erase Samford's shutout but it would not be enough to send the game to a seventh inning, and the Bulldogs would walk away with a 9-1 victory.
Fisher, England and Adams all went 3-for-4 at the plate for the Bulldogs. Fisher and England each recorded two RBI and Fisher scored three runs while England plated one. Adams recorded three RBI and plated one run while Barrs had the eighth RBI for Samford.
Barrs (4-14) also pitched all six innings and earned her fourth win of the season, giving up just one earned run on five hits.
Jordan Fulton, Pace, Colby Liles, Kristen Gay and Reese each had one hit for the Catamounts while Pace recorded the RBI and Reese plated the run.
Amber Steinhardt (7-15) took the loss, pitching two innings and giving up four earned runs on seven hits while striking out one batter. Katie King then came in and pitched three innings and gave up three earned runs on four hits while striking out two batters. Chere Monday pitched the final inning and gave up two earned runs on two hits.
The Bulldogs return home next weekend to close out the regular season with a three-game series against UNC Greensboro and will honor its four seniors - England, Barrs, Reeves and Stephanie Royall - on Sunday.
Georgia Southern 7, Elon 4
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern softball program saw its seniors go out in style, sweeping the Southern Conference series over Elon with a 7-4 victory on Sunday in the final home game of the regular season.
The Eagles (26-23, 12-8 SoCon) never trailed the Phoenix (33-17, 15-9 SoCon) in the final game of their three game set, taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Georgia Southern tacked on three more in the bottom of the third inning to stretch the lead to 6-0.
Sophomore Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) sparked the Eagles with a one-out single in the first, and advanced to third on a throwing error by Elon pitcher Erin O'Shea, after O'Shea dropped a pop-up by junior Megen Smith (Springfield, Ga.), giving the Eagles runners at first and third.
Senior Jenny Side (Loganville, Ga.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases for senior Sam Russo (Snellville, Ga.). The Eagle first baseman delivered with a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield. Side was able to score on a groundout by senior Kelly Burnett (Boynton Beach, Fla.) for the Eagles' third run of the inning.
In the third inning, it was again Fogle who led the offensive charge, leading off with her third home run of the season. Smith scored on a sacrifice fly by Russo, and Side came in on Burnett's second RBI of the game.
Elon scratched for three runs in the top of the fourth on a three-run home run by Kaitlyn Piazzolla. Georgia Southern got one of the three runs back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI-single by Smith, scoring senior Nina Iduate (Norcross, Ga.).
The Phoenix scored another run in the top of the fifth on an RBI-single by Hannah Shelton, but junior pitcher Brianna Streetmon (Clyo, Ga.) only allowed one hit over the final two innings of the game for her third win of the series.
Streetmon (18-9) allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits with two strikeouts in seven innings of work for her second complete game win of the series and third overall.
O'Shea (15-7) was charged with the loss after allowing six runs, three earned, on three hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
Fogle finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored. Russo was 1-for-3 with three RBIs, and Burnett drove in a pair of runs. Smith reached safely in four plate appearances, going 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Side was 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
The Eagles will wrap up the regular season in Greenville, S.C., with a doubleheader on Sunday, May 9, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Game three of the series is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Monday.
Live stats for the game will be available at www.furmanpaladins.com, by going to the softball schedule page and clicking on the Gametracker link on the right side of the page. Fans can also follow the scores, posted every half inning, via Twitter at www.twitter.com/GSScores.
Furman 4, College of Charleston 3 (11)
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Alyssa Williams drove in the go ahead run in the top of the 11th inning and senior Lana Mackey capped seven innings of relief by setting the Cougars down in order in the bottom of the frame to lead Furman to a 4-3 win and best-of-the-three Southern Conference series victory over the College of Charleston Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
The win improved Furman to 23-21 overall and 11-9 in the SoCon. College of Charleston slipped to 22-24 overall and 9-11 in the league.
With the a runner on second via the international tiebreaker rule to start the 11th inning, Mackey got Kristie Shifflett to ground to first, Amanda Lonergan to strike out swinging and Kelley Dillon to foul out to second baseman Morgan Hughey to secure the win.
Furman grabbed the lead in the top of the 11th on a pair of singles. With Hannah Bradley placed on second, Katie Michaels reached on a bunt single down the third base line to move her to third before Williams lined a single through the right side of the infield to plate the eventual winning run.
College of Charleston had taken an early 2-0 lead on leadoff hitter Amber Shifflett's two-out, two-run single to right field in the bottom of the second inning.
Furman answered with its first run in the top of the third. Michaels reached on a two-out single to left and moved around to third on Williams' base hit to center field. CofC starter Terri Mesko got Jessie Homesley to ground out to shortstop, but the throw to first was dropped allowing Michaels to score.
The Paladins pulled even in the fourth inning as Mackey belted the first pitch of the frame over the left field fence for her sixth homer of the season to knot the game at 2-2. The score remained the same until the top of the 10th when Brythe Blankenship laced her third hit of the day, a double, over the left fielder's head and off of the wall to score Stephanie Field from second base. Charleston pulled even in the bottom of the inning, however, as Kristy Giragosian drove in Hillary Stringer on a grounder to the right side of the infield.
Mackey, who improved to 16-9 in the circle, fanned 11 batters and scattered just three hits without allowing an earned run in seven innings of relief work. The Perry, Ga., native walked just two batters with the only run against her coming from the international tiebreaker who started on second in the 10th inning.. Starter Kayla Suskauer allowed two runs on six hits in four-plus innings of work while fanning five.
Blankenship went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Paladins while Michaels and Williams each notched a pair of hits. Mackey went 1-for-3 with a solo homer and two walks.
Mesko (11-8) suffered the loss for Charleston despite giving up only one earned run on nine hits in 11 innings of work. She fanned 11 batters and walked five.
Furman concludes its regular season May 9-10, when it hosts Georgia Southern in a crucial three-game SoCon series. Sunday's doubleheader, which will serve as Senior Day for Blankenship, Mackey, Meredith Mielke and Megan Schonhar, is set for 1 p.m. Monday's series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. also. The winner of next week's series will secure a spot in the four-team SoCon Tournament which will be held in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 13-14.
All three of Furman's remaining regular season games will be available via GameTracker. Fans can follow Furman action by logging onto www.furmanpaladins.com and following the links on the athletics schedule or by surfing to the Furman softball page.
UNC Greensboro 3, Chattanooga 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro got strong performances from all five seniors on Senior Day, highlighted by Whitney Sirois' three-run double and Amber Harrell's four-hit shutout, as the Spartans downed Chattanooga, 3-0 on Sunday.
UNCG (24-26, 11-9 Southern Conference) honored seniors Harrell, Sirois, Brittany Ausley, Emily Akiyama and Laura Olenderski prior to the game. Akiyama, Olenderski and Sirois all had hits in the game, while Ausley chased down the final out of the game in foul ground and made a couple of strong throws from left field that kept Chattanooga (37-14, 17-4 SoCon) from scoring from third. Harrell turned in her third shutout of the season.
The Spartans got all the runs Harrell would need in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Emeterio and Eileen Horsmon drew consecutive walks to lead off the inning, knocking starter Brooke Loudermilk from the game.
A fielder's choice erased Emeterio at third, but Akiyama singled up the middle to load the bases. Another fielder's choice allowed the Lady Mocs to get Horsmon at the plate, but Sirois dropped a bloop double down the right field line, just out of the reach of a diving Kaiti Kelley, to clear the bases.
Harrell did the rest, allowing just four hits and two walks on the day.
Chattanooga loaded the bases in the seventh to make it interesting, taking advantage of a walk and an error to put runners on first and second with no one out. Harrell got a pair of popups from the next two batters before Jessica Traxler singled to load the bases, but Ausley charged in to grab Lyndsey Stiles' foul ball to end the contest.
Harrell grabbed her career-high 12th win of the season, pushing her record to 12-13. She retired the first seven batters of the game, and faced the minimum through 4 1/3. She struck out seven.
Loudermilk (16-11) took the loss, as she was charged with two runs on two hits and two walks in three innings. Kandice Irwin worked three innings, allowing a run on five hits.
Traxler finished 2-for-3 to lead the Lady Mocs at the plate.
With the win, UNCG remains in fourth place in the SoCon standings. The top four teams advance to the league tournament, which will be in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 13-14.
The Spartans return to action next weekend at Samford for a three-game set to wrap up the regular season.