Mississippi Valley State 6, Samford 4
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford went up with an early 3-0 lead over Mississippi Valley State Tuesday, but the Delta Devilettes fought back to earn the 6-4 victory.
Offensively, Samford (4-17) was led by Julianne Surane going 2-3 with an RBI double in the second inning. Mississippi Valley State (11-12) had five batters with two hits, as the team totaled 11. Nicole Bobrowski took the loss for Samford in her first start in the circle, falling to 0-2 on the season.
Samford scored in the first two innings, building an early 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, Kayla Shaffer led off the inning being hit by a pitch and a double by Madison Dickey that bounced off the left-field fence brought her home all the way from first. Abby Adams led off the second inning with a triple, the first this season for Samford. Surane followed that up with a double that hugged the left-field line all the way to the fence to score the Bulldogs’ second run. A sacrifice bunt by Rachel Bickert moved Surane over to third and a high fly ball to center field by Caroline Seay brought her home on the sacrifice fly.
Mississippi Valley State would take the lead in the top of the fourth however, scoring four runs. Consecutive fielding errors put two runners on with nobody out and a sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position. A double to left field brought in the two unearned runs, as the Delta Devilettes drew within one. Another double brought in the third run, and an RBI single to center field made it a 4-3 game.
The Bulldogs tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth, as Shaffer hit a two-out single to bring in Surane from second. A two-run homer for Mississippi Valley State in the top of the seventh would prove the difference however, as the Bulldogs left two on base in the bottom of the seventh to take the tough loss.
The host a second midweek matchup on Thursday, March 15 as they face the South Alabama Jaguars at 4 p.m.
Tennessee 7, Georgia Southern 0
Tennessee 9, Georgia Southern 0
KNOXVILLE, TENN. – Georgia Southern’s five-game softball winning streak came to a close on Tuesday afternoon as the Eagles dropped a doubleheader at No. 9/11 Tennessee at Lee Stadium. Tennessee took the opener, 7-0. In the second game the Lady Vols posted a seven-run third inning to take the 9-0 victory.
-GAME ONE-
Georgia Southern kept the Lady Vols off the scoreboard for the first two frames before Lauren Gibson hit a two-run home run to centerfield, handing Tennessee a 2-0 lead. The Lady Vols added another run in the fifth off a sacrifice fly to go up 3-0.
Georgia Southern’s starting pitcher Sarah Purvis held the Lady Vols to just four hits over the first five innings before Tennessee exploded for four runs off four hits in the sixth frame as the sophomore was chased from the game. Freshman Marla Thompson entered the game in relief and recorded the final out of the sixth inning.
The Eagles were held to just two hits in the opener off the bats of seniors Hanna Ennis and Mackenzie Williams.
-GAME TWO-
Allie Miles took a no hitter into the third inning before the Lady Vols logged seven runs off four hits in the inning to take control of the game. Miles left the game with one out in the frame, as Tennessee posted the big inning to go up 7-0. Tennessee added two more runs in the fifth inning to take the 9-0 victory.
Georgia Southern posted three hits in the finale, led by Shelby Morrill’s double in the fourth inning.
The Eagles wrap-up a six-day road swing on Wednesday afternoon with a twilight doubleheader against Mercer. The Eagles and Bears play at 4 p.m. with the second game starting a half hour later.
USC Upstate 6, Western Carolina 2
USC Upstate 8, Western Carolina 5
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina softball (9-13) dropped its home opener doubleheader to USC Upstate (22-4), who is receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25, 6-2, 8-5 Tuesday at the Catamount Softball Complex.
Freshman catcher Heather Chastain had a nice outing in the pair of games, going 3-for-5 and pushing across two RBI, registering one RBI in each game. The Catamounts got back on the homerun wagon, with three homeruns in the second game. Prior to the three long balls, the Catamounts had not hit a homerun since hitting a pair against Rhode Island on March 2.
In the first game, USC Upstate scored a run in the first, a homerun by Shellie Robinson, to get on the scoreboard. The Spartans tacked on a single run in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Western Carolina tied the game, in the bottom of the second inning, which would be the closest the Catamounts would get in the game. Junior Shemekia Scotton drew a lead-off walk and then moved to second on a ground out by Kelly Braman. Haley Pace laid down beauty of a hit that popped just over the Spartan first baseman’s head as she was playing in, to put runners at the corners for WCU.
The Catamounts scored its first run of the inning on a ground out RBI by Robyn Burnette, which sent Scotton home. Chastain tied the game for the Catamounts when she hit an RBI single to right field to score Pace.
After a solid second inning, Western Carolina was held scoreless in the ensuing five innings. USC Upstate starting pitcher Hannah Alexander allowed just three hits and two Catamount runs.
The Spartans peppered four more runs over the course of the final five innings to take the win. USCU took the lead with a pair of runs in the third inning and single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. USC Upstate scored in all but two innings in the game.
Starting Catamount pitcher Jordan Garrett went five innings giving up six runs on nine hits and had two strikeouts. She took the loss and fell to 5-6 on the season.
Amber Steinhardt came into the game in the sixth inning after Garrett got into a bit of a jam, with runners on first and second and nobody out. Steinhardt got a pair of groundouts and a fly out to end the inning, though one of the groundouts resulted in a run. Steinhardt went two innings, giving up just one hit.
Steinhardt got the start in the second game against USC Upstate. She tossed a scoreless first inning before giving up a run in the top of the second.
Trailing 1-0, Western Carolina took its only lead of the game off of one swing of the bat. With one out, Braman singled through the left side, to put the tying run on first. Steinhardt hit her first homerun of the season, in her first at bat of the year, giving WCU a 2-1 lead.
No. 21/22 Florida State 1, Chattanooga 0
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Chattanooga Lady Mocs softball team had two runners on with the game-tying run at second with one out in the seventh before Florida State was able to notch a 1-0 win on Tuesday night at JoAnne Graf Field. Freshman pitcher Taylor Deason was aided by a solid Lady Mocs defense as the Clarksville, Tenn., native struck out five.
The lone Seminoles run was a solo shot by Maddie O'Brien with two outs in the second as Florida State out-hit Chattanooga seven to five.
Senior catcher Vivian Morimoto, junior first baseman Kasey Tydingco, junior pitch hitter Ninjja Suetsugu, freshman outfielder Nicole Osterman and freshman third baseman Sarah Beth Roberts each notched singles for the Lady Mocs.
Chattanooga set the tone defensively in the first as Florida State threatened to go on top with two runners in scoring position following a single by Shayla Jackson and a double by Mallory Borden. Erika Leonard then sent a ball to third baseman Roberts and she tossed the ball to catcher Morimoto, who tagged the runner. Alertly, Morimoto saw that Leonard was on her way to second and threw it to Poteat at second and following a long rundown senior shortstop Jessica Traxler tagged out the runner for a double play.
Following the Seminoles' solo home run, Roberts started off the third with a single to pitcher. The Lady Mocs were unable to move the runner, but following a fielder's choice from sophomore outfielder Kaiti Dutton, she took second and third on back-to-back wild pitches. Florida State pitcher Monica Perry was able to get out of the jam with a strikeout.
In the bottom-half, two walks and a fielder's choice put two runners on with two outs before Deason notched her second strikeout of the game with a foul out to first baseman Tydingco.
Following a quite fourth, Osterman singled up the middle before back-to-back fly outs ended the frame.
A one-out double down the left field line by Borden started off Florida State in the fifth as it loaded the bases with a walk and an infield single with two outs. Junior second baseman Sara Poteat took a single away from O'Brien by catching a soft liner behind second to end the inning.
Deason worked out of another jam in the sixth following a lead-off walk as the Chattanooga defense used two ground outs and a liner to end the frame.
The Lady Mocs were poised for a possible upset needing one run to extend the game in the seventh and Tydingco started it off with a rocket that glanced off the shortstop and into center for a single.Morimoto made solid contact and drove a pitch that the right fielder Morgan Bullard was able to track down at the top of the fence in right center, just a couple feet from a go-ahead home run.
In a pinch hitting role, Suetsugu singled to right center to move Tydingco to scoring position with one out. The game ended as Osterman hit a soft liner that was caught by the pitcher and tossed to first for a double play.
Hurler Perry went the distance to improve to 8-2 on the season and registered seven strikeouts.
The Lady Mocs return to action on Wednesday with a doubleheader at No. 4 Florida beginning at 5 p.m. Fans can follow the action with live stats and a free audio broadcast via links on the softball schedule page of GoMocs.com. Tyler Brown, the Voice of Lady Mocs softball, has the play-by-play commentary for the team this season.