Furman 8, Appalachian State 7
Appalachian State 4, Furman 1
BOONE, N.C. - Freshman Nikki Legg reached base safely four times and scored three runs to help Furman to an 8-7 victory over Appalachian State and doubleheader split with the Mountaineers in the final regular season games of the season for both teams on Monday at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium. ASU downed Furman 4-1 in game two.
Trailing 4-3 entering the seventh inning, Furman plated five runs and held off a Mountaineer rally in the bottom of the frame to earn the game one victory. Stephanie Field and Legg opened the inning with a single and walk, respectively, before Jessie Homesley tied the game with an RBI single off the right-center field wall. Morgan Hughey's fly out to right advanced both runners and Furman loaded the bases when Hannah Pace reached on a fielder's choice as the Mountaineers unsuccessfully tried to throw out Legg diving back into the third base bag.
Katie Michaels following by lining an RBI single to left-center to plate Legg and Homesley raced home on a wild pitch to up the lead to 6-4. Alex Bimonte drew a two-out walk and Emily Boyer greeted reliever Louise Gibson with a two-run single down the right field line to up the margin to 8-4.
Furman hurler Kayla Suskauer retired the first batter in the bottom of the seventh before MacKenzie Phillips singled and Sarah Rappe doubled into the gap to put runners on second and third with one out. A walk to Katie Boyd, who had hammered a three-run, go-ahead homer earlier in the game, loaded the bases and Megan Rembielak followed with an RBI single. Meghan Smith delivered an RBI single and Allie Cashion plated Appalachian State's seventh run with a sacrifice fly, but Suskauer got Michelle Lighton to ground out to Boyer to end the game.
Furman had taken a 3-0 leads with unearned runs in the first, third and fourth innings only to see Appalachian State roar into the lead as Boyd capped a four-run fifth inning with a three-run homer off of the roof of ASU's indoor practice facility in right-center field.
Legg finished 2-for-2 with three runs while Homesley, Michaels and Boyer each collected a pair of hits for the Paladins.
Suskauer (12-15) picked up the win in the circle allowing six earned runs on nine hits in seven innings. She walked just one batter and fanned five.
Reliever Caitlin Wainright allowed five runs, four earned, on three hits in 2.1 innings of work to suffer the loss For ASU. Boyd scored two runs and drove in three for the Mountaineers while Rappe went 2-for-3 with two doubles.
In game two, Appalachian State broke open a 1-1 game on Rembielak's RBI single in the fourth and added two runs in the fifth inning to pull away from Furman, 4-1.
Louise Gibson (6-7) limited the Paladins to a single run on five hits in seven innings to take the victory. She walked three batters and struck out three in the complete-game effort.
MacKenzie Phillips went 3-for-3 with a double to lead the Appalachian offense as the Mountaineers secured the No. 2 seed in this week's Southern Conference Tournament.
Field went 2-for-2 to pace the Furman offense. Hannah Bradley, making her second start of the season, allowed three earned runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings to fall to 0-2 in the circle.
No. 8 seed Furman (17-33, 9-15 SoCon) faces No. 9 seed Western Carolina in the play-in game of the SoCon Tournament at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning at Eagle Field in Statesboro, Ga.