Western Carolina 5, Furman 4
Western Carolina 1, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Western Carolina softball (15-25, 5-9 Southern Conference) used stellar defense and timely hitting to sweep Furman 5-4, 1-0 (18-17, 6-7 SoCon) Saturday at Pepsi Stadium. It was the first time this season the Catamounts have swept the doubleheader of a Southern Conference series.
Western Carolina 5, Furman 4
Defense and timely hitting secured a win for Western Carolina in game one.
The Catamounts didn’t waste any time getting on the board, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. Amelia Griffin’s patience paid off as she took four straight pitches to draw a lead-off walk. A beauty of a sacrifice bunt by Jordan Fulton moved Griffin to second and Griffin motored to third on a ground out by Taylor Sigmon.
Western Carolina scored its first run of the game on an RBI single by Haley Pace that went past second base. Senior Shemekia Scotton followed with an RBI double to score Pace and give the Catamounts an early 2-0 lead.
Runs in the bottom of the second and the third by Furman knotted the game at two after three inning.
Amazing defensive plays by Western Carolina shut down Furman’s scoring chances in the fourth inning. Amber Steinhardt made a scooping play in right field for the first out and then with a runner on and one out, short stop Karley Harkey chased down a fly ball behind the third base bag for the out. Catamount pitcher Jordan Garrett picked up a strikeout on Natalie Clemmons to end the inning.
Western Carolina took advantage of what was given to them and made things happen in the top of the fifth to put together three runs and re-claim the lead. Harkey led off the scoring rally with a single up the middle. Makenzi McAteer laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Harkey to second. A speedy Griffin caused the Furman first baseman to muff the ball and Griffin reached first on a Furman error moving Harkey to third.
With one out, Fulton reached on a fielder’s choice and picked up an RBI when Harkey scored. Another fielder’s choice by Furman allowed Sigmon to reach first and Griffin scored the second run of the inning and earned an RBI for Sigmon. Pace picked up her second RBI of the game when she singled to left center and plated Fulton.
Furman made the game very interesting when the Paladins scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to slice the Catamount lead to one, 5-4.
Western Carolina had a chance to pad to its lead in the top of the seventh inning when Fulton hit a double to right center with one out. Fulton was stranded at second when Sigmon ground out and Pace flied out.
Garrett sat down the Paladins in order in the bottom of the seventh inning to squelch a comeback attempt. With that performance, Garrett improved to 10-9 on the season tossing a complete game allowing three earned runs on seven hits and struck out seven.
Of the seven hits in the game for Western Carolina, Pace had two and also had a pair of RBI.
Western Carolina 1, Furman 0
In the top of the seventh inning, sophomore Heather Chastain led off with a double down the left field line to set up Western Carolina’s eventual winning run in the game. Chastain was replaced at second by freshman Sarah Perrine who promptly moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Amber Steinhardt. Sophomore Megan Crowe attempted a bunt that turned into a single and Western Carolina had runners at the corners with one out. Harkey executed a textbook sacrifice fly to right field that scored Perrine and picked up an RBI.
Clinging to the 1-0 lead and Furman coming to bat set up a nail-biter of a situation for the Catamounts.
Starring pitcher, freshman Mallory Broome, made things interesting when she issued a lead-off walk to Stephanie Field. Taylor Jenkins laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Field to second and the Paladins had the tying run at second. That’s when Broome and the Catamount defense dug in as Furman hit back-to-back fly outs to end the game.
Broome improved to 3-6 on the season tossing her first shut-out of the season and her fourth complete game. She allowed three hits and struck out four.
Five of the combined eight hits in the game, five from Western Carolina and three from Furman, were doubles.
Chattanooga 6, Georgia Southern 5
Chattanooga 3, Georgia Southern 0
CHATTANOOGA, TENN. – Chattanooga swept the opening two games of a three-game set between the Eagles and Mocs on Saturday afternoon in the Scenic City. Chattanooga withstood a seventh inning Eagle rally to win 6-5 in the opener. In game two, UTC shutout GSU 3-0. Georgia Southern will look to avoid the series sweep on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the series finale.
– GAME ONE –
Chattanooga took game one of the series by a 6-5 margin by scoring a single run in each of their six trips to the plate. Four of the runs were counted as earned as three Eagle errors hurt the cause.
Kourtny Thomas got the game started with a two-run home run in the first inning. She hit the one-out job off a 3-2 count for her ninth home run of the season.
Chattanooga’s offense, however, responded with six-straight runs over the next six innings. Sarah Purvis gave up a run in both the first and second innings before being pulled for Brooke Red in the second inning with no outs. Red went an inning and a third before she was injured by a line drive in the third. Marla Thompson came on and struck out four in her three and two-thirds innings of work.
Down 6-2 in the top of the seventh, Georgia Southern mounted a rally to put a scare in the Chattanooga faithful. Shelby Morrill opened the frame with a solo home run to cut the lead to three. A walk and a single brought the tying run to the plate as Chattanooga went to the bullpen for Taylor Deason.
A throwing error by the Chattanooga shortstop on a ball up the middle allowed Tabby Douberley to score, while a throwing error by the Chattanooga catcher moments later allowed Andrea Tarashuk to score and bring the score to 6-5 with the tying run standing on second base. Chattanooga dismissed the next three batters in order on strikes to nail down the win in the series opener.
– GAME TWO –
In game two, Chattanooga took a 3-0 win to take the doubleheader sweep in a pair of complete game performances by Allie Miles and Taylor Deason in the circle. Miles allowed three runs, one earned while scattering six hits and striking out six batters. Deason held the Eagles to four hits and no runs while striking out six batters.
The Mocs scored one run in the frist when Kasey Tydinco’s single pushed Sara Poteat in for the opening run with one out in the inning. UTC added two more unearned runs in the third inning as a passed ball after a strikeout on Poteat extended the inning for Chattanooga.
The Eagles tallied more extra base hits in the doubleheader than Chattanooga. Tarashuk’s double in game one moved her into a tie for eighth place on the GSU career doubles list, matching Megen Smith’s 2008-11 total of 34 career doubles.
Appalachian State 7, Elon 3
Appalachian State 8, Elon 5
BOONE, N.C. – Highlighted by freshman Pepper Butler’s two home runs and eight RBI, the Appalachian State University softball team took two games from Southern Conference opponent Elon on Saturday at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium.
With the wins, the Mountaineers improve to 17-13 overall on the season and 11-3 in the SoCon, while Phoenix fall to 12-23 overall and 2-9 in conference play.
The two wins keep Appalachian atop the SoCon standings and improve them to 8-0 in the friendly confines of Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium.
Game One: App State 7 , Elon 3
Appalachian took a 3-0 lead over the Phoenix in the bottom of the second when Ellie Manriquez singled to left field and Caroline Rogers drew a walk to put runners on first and second.
Butler stepped in with two runners on and knocked a three-run homer, the first of her career, over the left field fence to allow the Mountaineers to take a 3-0 lead over Elon.
Elon’s Carleigh Nester brought the Phoenix within two of the Black and Gold when she hit a solo home run over the left field fence in the top of the third inning.
Appalachian notched its second multi-run homer of the game when Ashley Seering lined one over the right field wall, scoring Allie Cashion and extending the Apps’ lead to 5-1.
App State tacked on one run to take the 6-1 advantage when Sarah Warnock singled down the right field line and advanced to third on two groundouts before Cashion hit a shallow single to left center to bring Warnock home.
Elon started a comeback in the top of the fifth inning when it loaded the bases on an Appalachian error, a single and a walk. Sarah Little singled through the left side of the field, scoring the first unearned run of the inning.
The second run of the inning crossed the plate when Grace Eng found the same hole as Little to bring the Phoenix within three of the Apps.
Appalachian tacked on a seventh run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Manriquez had a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a Roger’s sacrifice bunt. Manriquez crossed home when she advanced to third on a Warnock single and touched home on an Elon throwing error.
Five of the seven Appalachian runs crossed the plate off of home runs as Butler and Seering each notched multi-run homers on the afternoon. Warnock went 2-for-3 at the plate while Cashion and Manriquez each added a hit.
Alissa Schoelkopf (10-6) picked up the win in the circle as she pitched her ninth complete game of the season with four strikeouts and allowed just one earned run.
Game Two: App State 8, Elon 5
Appalachian continued to shine offensively in game two when Seering had a leadoff double off the right field wall to start the second inning. Manriquez drew a walk to put runners on first and second before Rogers laid down her second sacrifice bunt of the afternoon to put runners on second and third for Butler.
Butler, who had led the Mountaineer offense all day, knocked a double in the right center gap to score both Seering and Manriquez. A follow-up single from Dani Heichen would score Butler and allow App State to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Elon responded to the three runs in the top of the fourth inning when Nester hit her second home run of the day with two runners on base to knot the score at 3-3 with no outs.
The Phoenix took their first lead of the afternoon when Aly Quintana singled to center field, allowing two runs to cross the plate and Elon to take the 5-3 lead over the Apps. With one out and a runner on base, Appalachian would pull starting pitcher Shivaun Landeros and put in Schoelkopf.
The Black and Gold fought back in the bottom of the fourth inning as it scored four runs on four hits. Seering notched her second hit of the day with a one-out single through the left side and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Manriquez walked for the second time in the contest.
Rogers knocked a double to right center field that would score Seering and allow Appalachian to come within one of Elon.
Butler came to the plate with runners on second and third and drove her second home run of the day over the scoreboard, giving the Apps all the runs they would need to secure the victory.
Cashion led off the fourth inning for the Mountaineers with a double down the left field line, which was her 44th career double. The double broke the Appalachian career doubles record which was previously held by Lindsay Glover (2004-07)
The Mountaineers tacked on a final run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Cashion singled through the right side of the field and moved to second on a Meghan Smith walk. Seering reached first on a fielder’s choice and Cashion moved to third on the play before a wild pitch allowed Cashion to cross the plate.
Five players on the App State roster notched two hits in game two, while Butler had five RBI and Heichen and Rogers each knocked in one.
Schoelkopf (11-6) earned her second win of the day as she came on in relief and pitched 4.2 innings with two strikeouts and gave up only one hit, while Landeros pitched 2.1 innings with one strikeout.
Butler led the entire App State offense as she went 3-for-5 with eight RBI and scored three times, while Warnock added four hits on the afternoon.
College of Charleston 3, Samford 2 (9 innings)
College of Charleston 4, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The College of Charleston softball team plated a combined seven runs on 14 hits in a 3-2 nine-inning and 4-2 doubleheader victory over Samford to assure itself the weekend series win in Southern Conference action held Saturday at the Birmingham-Southern College Softball Field.
The Cougars (19-15, 8-5 SoCon) are now one win away from claiming their 20th win of the season, while the Bulldogs (10-22, 2-9 SoCon) dropped their seventh straight including a non-conference sweep at No. 12-ranked LSU on March 30.
Sophomore ace Hope Klicker (Walla Walla, Wash.) earned the win in the circle in game one pitching all nine innings with seven stikeouts, while senior Stephanie Saylors (Easley, S.C.) improved to 4-0 on the season allowing only two runs with no walks in seven innings of work in game two.
The Cougars will close out the weekend series with the Bulldogs in a single game tomorrow beginning at 2 p.m. (ET) / 1 p.m. (CT). Live scoring will be available at: www.samfordsports.com.
GAME ONE
College of Charleston 3, Samford 2 (nine innings)
Fielding errors by Samford led to two unearned runs for CofC in game one which proved to be the difference in a nine-inning thriller.
Freshman first baseman Chandler Frisbie (Lawrenceville, Ga.) got the Cougars on the scoreboard early with a lead-off walk by Samford pitcher Caitlin Bice and later crossed home plate as senior Kristy Giragosian (Charlotte, N.C.) reached first on an error by the Bulldog infield in the top of the second.
Junior third baseman Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) scored the first of her two runs of the game on an RBI double by freshman outfielder Rebecca Mueller (Fair Oaks, Calif.) after being walked as the lead-off hitter in the fourth.
The Bulldogs got their offense going in the fourth and sixth innings scoring a pair of runs to tie the contest on defensive errors made by the Cougars. Both teams failed to find a way to score in the extra innings until Hodgson’s eventual game-winner – an unearned run after a lead-off single in the top of the ninth.
Klicker and the CofC defense took down the next three Samford hitters with quick outs on two ground outs and a fly out to right field to claim the victory.
GAME TWO
College of Charleston 4, Samford 2
Samford started off hot in game two with a two-run second inning courtesy of runs by Kayla Shaffer and Abby Adams.
CofC countered as senior second baseman Ashton Jarrett (Hanahan, S.C.) placed two runners on base on a bunt single in the top of the third. Frisbie would later send an RBI single to left field to bring in Jarrett to get the Cougars within one, 2-1.
A three-run sixth inning put CofC up for good as junior shortstop Lizzie Vaughn (Placerville, Calif.) sent an RBI single up the middle to bring in junior utility player Katie O’Brien (Middletown, N.J.), who pinch ran for sophomore catcher Mackenzie Maples (Corona, Calif.), and Jarrett hit a two RBI double down the left field line to bring in Vaughn and junior centerfielder Carly Corthell.