Georgia Southern 5, Samford 0

STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern Softball (19-20, 9-2 SoCon) took advantage of a bright and sunny Saturday (April 2nd) afternoon to take a pair of wins over Samford (7-29, 4-7 SoCon) at the friendly confines of Eagle Field. Tabby Douberley's walk-off home run gave the Eagles a 2-1 victory in the first game of the doubleheader. In the second game, Brianna Streetmon tossed a two-hit shutout as the Eagle bats erupted for five runs off 10 hits and the 5-0 victory.

Saturday's doubleheader was Georgia Southern's second-annual “Save Second Base” Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The Eagles wore pink T-shirts for pre-game warmups and donned pink socks for the games. Georgia Southern sold T-shirts during the game to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This year's event has helped the Eagles raise more than $1,200 for the foundation's efforts to fight breast cancer.

-Game 1-

The first five innings of Saturday's series opener were a pitching duel with both Georgia Southern's Allie Miles and Samford's Kayla Burris keeping the opposing offense under wraps. Miles allowed just two hits while Burris struck out nine Eagles in the first five innings.

Samford took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when a bases-loaded walk brought in the game's first run. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with no outs on a walk and two singles, but a pop-up and a strikeout gave Miles two outs in the frame. She worked ahead in the count to Aaren Fisher, but allowed the walk on a full count. Miles responded with a strikeout to retire the side with just one run score.

Following two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, junior Mackenzie Williams crushed a home run to left-center and tied the game, 1-1. The solo shot was her fifth home run of the season to become the third Eagle among the Southern Conference top-10 in home runs.

After a quiet top of the seventh, Douberley, the leadoff batter, ended game one with her second home run of the season. The walk-off home run was Georgia Southern's first of the season and gave the Eagles the thrilling 2-1 victory.

Miles picked up her ninth victory of the season and ran her SoCon record to 4-0. She scattered five hits and allowed just one run with five strikeouts in seven innings of work for her fifth complete game of the season.

-Game 2-

Junior Hanna Ennis went 3-for-4 with two RBI in game two. She opened game two by hitting an RBI double to bring Marie Fogle across the plate for Georgia Southern's first run.

In the third inning, Georgia Southern took advantage of a two-out throwing error to blow the game open and take a 4-0 lead. Williams' ground ball would have been the final out of the frame, but a three-base throwing error allowed Ennis to score from first and Williams to speed around to third base. Williams scored on Doublerley's RBI single and Doublerley came home to score on a double by Andrea Tarashuk.

The Eagles tacked on an insurance run in the fourth inning to take the 5-0 lead. Ennis stroked her third hit of the game to drive Alexa Lewis across for the run.

Streetmon was efficient, facing the minimum number of batters through four innings while allowing one hit in the game's opening inning. A second hit in the fifth with two outs was the only other blemish on an otherwise stellar outing by the two-time defending SoCon Pitcher of the Year. Streetmon needed just 80 pitches to record her eighth win of the year and earn her third shutout of 2011. She fanned five and walked just one in the game.

Georgia Southern will look for the sweep on Sunday against Samford. The series finale starts at 1 p.m. from Eagle Field.

Chattanooga 7, Elon 5

Chattanooga 13, Elon 2

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University opened up a three-game Southern Conference series on Saturday, April 2, at East Field against the Chattanooga Lady Mocs, but dropped both games , 7-5 in game one and 13-2 in game two. Elon drops to 15-13 (2-6 SoCon) on the year, while UTC improves to 24-8 and remains unbeaten in league play at 7-0. 

Down six runs going into the seventh inning of game one, Elon rallied to push four runs across the plate to nearly pull off the comeback win. But the Lady Mocs managed to escape with the win, and then proceeded to pound out nine first-inning runs in game two to take a commanding lead and never look back.

Game One

Elon starter Erin O’Shea escaped a potential big inning from the Lady Mocs in the top of the first after Chattanooga loaded the bases with one out. But the junior from Kennesaw, Ga. managed to get out of the inning without any damage after inducing a UTC groundout and strike out to end the threat and the inning.

But UTC put the game’s first run on the board an inning later after a solo homer from Vivian Morimoto landed over the fence in right center to put the Phoenix behind, 1-0. Morimoto belted another solo bomb in the top of the fourth to extend Chattanooga’s lead to 2-0. 

The Lady Mocs used the long-ball once again to extend their lead in the top of the fifth after a solo shot down the left field line from Michelle Fuzzard stayed in fair territory through the wind to put Elon down, 3-0. 

Elon put its first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth after back-to-back singles from Danielle Lafferty and Jackie Gonzalez put runners on first and second with two outs. But UTC’s Fuzzard got out of the inning after inducing a Carleigh Nester groundout to third base for the third out.

Elon put its second runner of the game in scoring position an inning later after Tomeka Watson singled and stole second with no outs to give the Phoenix momentum. After a Graham strikeout, Watson stole third during the next at-bat and scored after a wild throw down to third base from UTC catcher Natalie Powers to make it a 3-1 game. Elon nearly made it a two-run game following a McGowan double down the right field line, but Fuzzard stuck out Morgan Wright to end the inning and the threat. 

Chattanooga’s Morimoto continued her dominance at the plate in the top of the seventh, as her three-run double off the fence in center field put the Phoenix behind late, 6-1. The Lady Mocs tacked on one more in the seventh to make it a 7-1 game.

Kaitlyn Piazzolla made it a five-run game in the bottom of the inning after cracking a solo home run over the fence in left to limit the Lady Mocs to a 7-2 lead. The homer marked Piazzolla’s second of the year. An RBI single from Watson later in the inning made it a 7-3 game after Gonzalez scored after singling earlier in the inning. Pam DelPizzo pulled the Phoenix even closer with two outs later in the inning, as her double to the gap in right center scored two runs to make it a 7-5 game. But that would be as close as the Phoenix would come, as UTC reliever Kandice Irwin managed to get the next out to secure the game-one win.

Watson went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and stolen base in game one, while DelPizzo finished 1-for-4 with two RBI. 

O’Shea went six and two-thirds innings in game one to take the loss and drop to 6-5 on the year. O’Shea gave up seven runs on 11 hits and two walks, while striking out six Lady Mocs. 

Game Two

The Lady Mocs wasted no time taking a commanding lead in game two, pushing nine runs across the plate on six hits to take a 9-0 lead after the first half inning. Elon starter Lauren Taylor was pulled from the game after one out, but reentered the game later in the inning after DelPizzo could not stop the UTC attack. 

Down 10 runs in the bottom of the third inning, the Phoenix managed to make it a 10-2 game after rookie Carleigh Nester smoked her first career home run over the fence in center field to pull Elon within eight runs. Nester finished the game 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBI. 

But that was as close as Elon would come, as the Lady Mocs tacked on three more runs to eventually take a 13-2 advantage and end the game in five innings. 

The UTC offense exploded for 13 runs on 13 hits, while limiting the Elon offense to only two runs on two hits, despite the maroon and gold’s late offensive surge in game one.

The two teams wrap up the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. at East Field.

Western Carolina 3, UNCG 2

UNCG 18, Western Carolina 3

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina softball (15-20, 2-9 SoCon) picked up its first Southern Conference Saturday series split, defeating UNCG 3-2 (13-18, 5-3 SoCon) and dropping the second game of the twin-bill 18-3, at the Catamount Softball Complex.

The rubber game of the three-game is at 1 p.m. Sunday as both clubs look for a chance to take the series.

The Catamounts had a three-run bottom of the third inning, to snap a scoreless game, and held on to take the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday. The third inning was highlighted by a pair of homeruns to take the lead.

It was an in-auspicious start to the scoring for Western Carolina, with two outs and Kelly Braman at the plate. Braman ignited the scoring with a single past the UNCG shortstop.

Freshman designated player Morgan Wyatt gave the Catamounts the lead when she hit a homeruns, her third in the last four games, over the centerfield wall, that also plated Braman. Sophomore shortstop Shemekia Scotton tacked on what would prove to be the winning run, when she also hit her third homerun of the season, a solo shot to left field.

Junior lefty hurler Katie King got the start and tossed her sixth complete game of the year. King looked to be cruising in the first game, pitching four scoreless innings, before UNCG got on the scoreboard.

The Spartan’s Kaitlin Merkt got UNCG on the board with a solo homerun to right field to lead off the fifth inning. UNCG added a second run thanks to an RBI single by Aisha Figueroa.

After giving up two runs to UNCG, King bounced back to retire the next six UNCG batters to help the Catamounts hold on for the win. King had four strikeouts in the game, allowing two runs on five hits. She also didn’t yield a walk in the contest and improves to 7-9 on the year.

UNCG pitcher Josie Felix took the loss and falls to 4-7 on the year.

The second game was all UNCG, though it didn’t look that way to start the game. The Catamounts awarded the second game start to sophomore Bekah Burkett, who tossed solid scoreless first inning. It would turn out, however, to be the only inning UNCG did not score.

Western Carolina capitalized on the scoreless top of the first inning, by UNCG, to jump to a 1-0 lead over the Spartans in the bottom of the first. Sophomore catcher Haley Pace drew a one out walk and quickly moved to second on a passed ball. Pace scored off a UNCG miscue.

The Spartans tied the game in the top of the second inning with an RBI single by April Langley. UNCG scored six runs in the third, sixth in the fourth and five in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

The Catamounts managed to push across a run in the third and the fourth inning.

UNCG pitcher Reanne Hanks got into a bit of a jam in the third inning, starting with giving up a lead-off single to sophomore Jordan Fulton, who then promptly stole second, her 12th of the season. With one out, Kelly Braman earned a walk, and after Wyatt flew out to centerfield, Scotton singled to load the bases. Hanks gave up her second walk of the inning, to Erin Foster, to send Fulton home.

Western Carolina scored its third and final run of the game in the fourth inning. Pinch hitter Robyn Burnette led off with a single. Amber Steinhardt was awarded first, on Hanks fourth walk of the game, to place runners at first and third, after Burnette stole second. Back-to-back passed ball allowed Burnette to score.

Burkett takes the loss for the Catamounts and moves to 1-5 on the year. King and Steinhardt also saw pitching time for Western Carolina. Hanks earned the win and improves to 3-1.

Appalachian State vs. College of Charleston, PPD

BOONE, N.C. - The College of Charleston softball team's Southern Conference Doubleheader against Appalachian State scheduled for Saturday afternoon has been cancelled. The teams will now play a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.

After a morning frost and icing, there was standing water in the outfield and the umpires deemed it to be unplayable.

Sunday's doubleheader is scheduled to start a 1 p.m.