Presbyterian 5, Western Carolina 1
Presbyterian 10, Western Carolina 2
CLINTON, S.C. - Western Carolina softball (13-17) was swept by Presbyterian College (16-5-1) 5-1, 10-2 Tuesday at the Presbyterian Softball Complex.
With one run in the doubleheader, sophomore outfielder Jordan Fulton is two runs away from moving to ninth in the Catamount record books. She currently has 49 in her career. Fulton also stole the 25th base of her career and three hits in the two games. Fulton also currently now has 85 hits in her career and needs four to move to ninth place for hits.
Fulton got Western Carolina on the board in the first inning, leading off with a double to left field. With one out, Erin Foster hit a sacrifice bunt, pushing Fulton to third. Freshman Kelly Braman hit an RBI single up the middle to score Fulton.
Western Carolina held onto a 1-0 lead over Presbyterian for four innings, before the Blue Hose tied the game in the fifth inning and took the lead in the sixth. The Catamounts dodged a couple of scoring bullets by Presbyterian College in the first and second inning.
Starting Western Carolina pitcher Bekah Burkett gave up back-to-back walks to start the Presbyterian bottom half of the first inning. After a Blue Hose sacrifice bunt placed runners at second and third, Western Carolina got a couple of key defensive plays, a PC runner called out at home and Burkett forcing a ground out for the third out.
In the second inning for the Blue Hose, Burkett peppered two strikeouts with a pair of walks, to again give Presbyterian a scoring chance. With two outs, the Blue Hose Tera Powell earned a trip to first off a Catamount error, but when Jennifer Marshall attempted to score, she was called out at the plate.
The Catamounts precarious 1-0 lead was evaporated in the bottom of the fifth inning. After teasing at scoring the previous four innings, Presbyterian finally got on the board off a solo homerun to centerfield by the Blue Hose Morgan Durham.
Presbyterian took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Burkett gave up a pair of singles to the Blue and Powell hit a two RBI double to give PC the lead. Leslie Hensley capped off the inning with a two run homerun, the second homerun given up by Burkett in the game.
The Catamounts had just three hits while Presbyterian College had six. However, the Blue Hose made the most of its six hits stringing together two homeruns in the game. Burkett takes the loss for the Catamounts falling to 0-3. She gave up five runs on six hits and struck out a career-high six batters. She also gave up seven walks.
The second game began almost like the first for Western Carolina. Fulton led off with a single, her 30th hit of the season. Fellow sophomore Haley Pace had a sacrifice bunt, but she earned first base off a Blue Hose error. Fulton attempted to go home on the play but was called out. Braman struck again for WCU hitting an RBI single to right field to plate Pace.
Amber Steinhardt got the starting nod in the second game for Western Carolina. Presbyterian earned three runs and four hits off Steinhardt in the first inning to take the early Blue Hose lead. The Blue Hose benefitted from a pair of one and two RBI doubles.
The Blue Hose added two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Again, Presbyterian scored off two doubles, each a one RBI effort.
In the top of the fourth, Western Carolina came back and tacked on one run. Braman led off with a single, her second hit of the game, and moved to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Shemekia Scotton. Erin Foster followed with single past second base and Braman moved to third. With two outs, Steinhardt hit an RBI single to the right side, scoring Braman.
Presbyterian answered in the bottom of the fourth with five runs off five hits for a huge eight-run lead over the Catamounts, 10-2. The eight run lead halted the game at five innings.
Steinhardt takes the loss on the mound and falls to 7-6 on the season. She gave up nine runs on nine hits and struck out one. Megan Taylor got in 0.1 inning of work in the fourth allowing one run on one hit.
Western Carolina will travel to Samford on Saturday and Sunday for a Southern Conference series with the Bulldogs. The doubleheader Saturday begins at 1 p.m. with the single game on Sunday slated for 1 p.m.
UAB 3, Samford 1
UAB 11, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford softball team dropped its midweek doubleheader to UAB Tuesday evening. The Blazers used a two-run home run to break a tie and win the first game before charging to an 11-2 win over the Bulldogs in game two.
The doubleheader served as makeup games for both teams who each had previous games washed out earlier this month.
In game one, the Blazers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Sallie Van Kirk hit an RBI double to left field. The Bulldogs then tied the score in the bottom of the fifth when Amanda Jordan hit a home run over the center field wall to lead off the inning. The homer was Jordan's fifth of the year and it was her third lead-off bomb in three days.
Both teams went quietly in the sixth inning but UAB scored two runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run by Catherine Douglass to give the Blazers the 3-1 win.
Jordan and Lakan Smith each went 1-for-2 against the Blazers in game one while Jordan scored a run and had an RBI. Robyn Harmon and Whitney Terry also each went 1-for-3. Kayla Burris (3-10) took the loss and pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out three batters and allowing two walks.
Caley Walden and Douglass led the Blazers, each going 2-for-4 with a run. Mandy Lowman and Lauren Webster also were 1-for-2 at the plate. Leigh Streetman (6-3) earned the win and pitched a complete game, giving up just one earned run on four hits while striking out three batters and walking two.
In game two, Samford took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jordan hit an RBI single to score Harmon from second base. However, the Blazers answered back and plated three runs in the top of the second inning with a three-run home run by Kristen McGrath.
Samford added another run in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Aaren Fisher to score Terry from third, but UAB would score in each of the remaining innings to seal the win. RBI singles in the fourth by Walden and the fifth by Mitchell gave the Blazers a 5-2 lead going into the sixth inning. UAB scored four runs in the top of the sixth, with two RBI singles while two runs scored on an error. In the top of the seventh, a fielder's choice brought in the Blazers' 10th run and an RBI double by Donna Plath brought in the final run. UAB took game two, 11-2.
Six Samford players had a hit in game two including Terry, Smith, Jordan, Fisher, Brianna Chambers, Kayla Shaffer and Allison Reynolds. Emily Waters (0-2) started for the Bulldogs in the circle and took the loss, giving up three runs on six hits in two innings of work. Nicole Bobrowski come on in relief and gave up one earned run on nine hits in five innings of work. Waters and Bobrowski each recorded a strikeout while Bobrowski allowed three walks.
Lowman led the Blazers in game two, going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. McGrath was 2-for-4 with a run and four RBI while Walden was 3-for-5 and Douglass was 2-for-5 with two runs. Mitchell also went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI while Erica Sisson was 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Alisha Smith (5-1) started for the Blazers and earned the win, giving up one earned run on two hits in 2.1 innings of work. She also recorded five strikeouts. Lauren Webster pitched the final 4.2 innings of the game, giving up just five hits and striking out six batters.
The Bulldogs are back in action this weekend as they continue their two week homestand. Samford will host Western Carolina in a weekend Southern Conference series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will begin at 1 p.m. CT.